As the insurance market begins to harden, with insurers boosting premiums or seeking stricter terms for some types of coverage, risk managers for the most part are accepting those changes.

A recent survey by Hanover Stone Partners shows only a minority of companies have responded to price hikes or stricter terms by switching their insurer or broker or adjusting their retentions. But John Kelly, managing partner at Hanover Stone, a network of risk management advisers and services firms, predicts that as the insurance market continues to tighten, more companies will look for ways to contain their costs.

“There are pretty tight budgetary constraints and financial expectations that really put a lot of pressure on risk managers in a rising market to maintain stabilization of the pricing,” Kelly notes.