The role of the Policyholder’s Risk, Insurance and Loss Assessor

Increasingly in cases of major claims, the Insureds – invariably at the indication of their Lawyers or Brokers – contract a Loss Assessor to help them to prepare and defend their claim that will be submitted to the Insurance Companies.

This has obvious advantages, since firstly:

  • These experts will furnish the Policyholder with a technical report on the causes and consequences of the loss event that can then be compared against the report compiled by the Loss Adjuster acting for the Insurance Company.
  • They can help the Policyholder to adopt measures, something that they are obliged to do, in order to minimise the Consequential Losses.
  • They will free the Policyholder from the work of preparing and documenting the claim to be presented to their Insurers, so that instead they can dedicate themselves primarily to recovering their normal productivity and contacting their suppliers and clients.

Furthermore, with the “fees of the Insured’s expert/loss assessor” clause that the major Brokers currently are contracting in the policies that they negotiate, VANTEVO’s services  may end up being wholly or partially free of charge for the Policyholders.

Likewise an independent and professional Loss Assessor like VANTEVO, can help the Policyholders reduce their claims record by systematically analysing the causes of any loss events that arise and thus undertake measures so as to prevent any similar loss events recurring in the future.

Additionally, based upon the analysis of the incidents that occur, it is possible to achieve a year on year improvement in the safety measures implemented at the risk and thereby improve the covers afforded by their Policy, all of the above in collaboration with the Policyholder’s Broker.

Lastly, an independent Loss Assessor such as VANTEVO CLAIMS ADVISORS can help the Policyholder to avoid any underinsurance by appraising their assets, and to improve their risks by means of the survey report they compile that reflects the necessary hazard prevention and safety measures, and to draw up an “action protocol in the event of a loss” the advantages of which we have explained in a recent communication.

Gas explosions: Importance of maintenance.

Gas explosions are very conspicuous and have great media coverage, but they are very rare considering the large number of gas installations in Western countries.

What happened a few days ago in Madrid, a gas explosion that caused the death of several people and destroyed several floors of a building was due, being a piped gas installation, to a significant gas leak that formed a pocket that reached a concentration to explode at a given time when some phenomenon occurs that caused the explosion of it. What is striking is that due to the smell, the gas leakage had not been detected before and a large pocket was formed. Also striking is the several hours it took for the firefighters to cut off the gas supply in the area in the moments after the explosion.

It was clear that they were not butane cylinders, since they do not produce such damage unless several are deliberately concentrated as has happened with suicide attempts that have sometimes caused several deaths.

Good maintenance of the facilities is essential. The regulation of once every 5 years in the case of gas cylinders and every 2 years in gas boilers, seems insufficient to us and maintenance contracts should be made for annual reviews, since it is necessary to review elements that deteriorate over time such as valves , regulators, flexible connections …

These maintenance contracts should be signed with companies of recognized solvency and experience that have specialized personnel.