Increased terror risk in Europe and the US has driven companies to focus more on their crisis management plans, according to Aon.

Europe has been the target of 36 terror attacks this year, compared with 25-31 a year from 2012 to 2015, the group’s latest terrorism and political violence newsletter says.

A shift in terror tactics to focus more on taking civilian lives than inflicting infrastructure damage has highlighted the importance of crisis management plans.

“The terrorism threat in Western Europe has led to heightened concerns among first responders, as well as businesses anxious about the potential impact on their people and operations from terror events,” Aon says.

“From an insurance perspective, the trend towards mass-casualty attacks rather than high-explosive attacks means the human cost and business interruption impacts can outweigh those associated with damage to assets.

“It also places a much greater emphasis on effective crisis management to minimise the potential for an attack to affect your people and operations.”

The newsletter is produced in partnership with Risk Advisory, a global risk consultancy.