Download
1 / 39
390 likes | 511 Views
Fire and Smoke Damage Mitigation. A Moment of Silence…. Mitigation?. Consists of two segments. What can be done before the claim to lessen severity. What can be done after the loss to stop secondary damage and lessen severity. Insurance Claims Types. Less Claims. It’s only 5.7%
E N D
Mitigation? • Consists of two segments. • What can be done before the claim to lessen severity. • What can be done after the loss to stop secondary damage and lessen severity.
Less Claims • It’s only 5.7% • Approximately 18 Billion in residential losses in 2006.
The largest % • Inattentive Behavior • Children • Candles • Holidays • Thanksgiving • Christmas • 4th of July
The Fire Department Goals and Concerns 1) Save Lives 2) Protect Surrounding Properties 3) Save this property 4) Contents
Mitigation • To make less severe. • Psychological damage. • Smoke damage. • Fire/Burn/Combustion. • Physical hazards. • Hazmats. • Open files. • Poor loss ratios. • Lost clients.
Psychological Damage After an emergency we all tend to get a bit lost. Most of us will never have to live through a fire but we’ve all been touched by some kind of disaster and understand how hard it is to focus after a terrible thing has happened. Every insurance professional should be working towards helping make the policyholder whole in every sense of the word.
Smoke Damage • Air volume doubles for every 10 degree rise in temperature. • As the heat increases the pores in materials open and smoke/odor molecules are driven into surfaces.
Fire/Burn/Combustion Two types of fires. - Simple - Complex Two types of burns. - Chemical - Heat Two types of combustion. - Complete - Incomplete
Physical hazards Are there holes burned in the floor? Are the overhead rafters still structurally sound? Is the floor wet and slippery? Is the fire still smoldering? Did anything burn that may cause contaminants?
Hazmats What burned? Plastics and other materials that are commonly found have toxic fumes. What's in your house?
Open Files An adjusters perspective: Adjusters are bombarded by new claims on a daily basis. There are approximately 17,000 claims per day in the US. That’s 340 claims per day/per State.
Poor Loss Ratios Everyone perspective: If loss ratios are not balanced everyone in the system ends up losing. Carriers won’t be profitable. Agencies will lose money. Adjusters will have to re-examine files. Policy holders will pay increased premiums.
Lost Clients The agents perspective: What does the policy holder buy? When do you loss policies? How do you avoid it?
Factors of Fire Mitigation • Time • Humidity • Temperature/pressure • Type of combustion materials.
Metal and glass surfaces Faucets Towel bars Aluminum window frames Chrome trim Marble Porcelain Tile/Grout China Crystal. At Risk Surfaces
Emergency Cleaning Also called a pre-clean. The goal: Neutralize the acid residue • Use A Surfactant Agent • Or Cooking Oil Protect surfaces and reduce claim costs.
Wall Coverings and Smoke Mitigation • Test cleaning or you might “set” the soot permanently! • The famous “chem sponge”
Ultrasonic Cleaners • Mild cleaning solution agitated with sound waves in a tank. Used to clean non-porous and/or delicate items. • Jewelry. • Ceramics. • Computer equipment.
Dry Ice Blasting • Similar to sand, aggregate or water blasting but can be very delicate. • Furniture. • Glass. • Paper. • Structure. National Claims Assignment Center: 1-888-4-PDR-NOW
Ozone Generators • Used to remove odors. Normally items are stored in a sealed room with ozone generator. • Not safe for natural rubber. National Claims Assignment Center: 1-888-4-PDR-NOW
VaporTek • This unit uses the Vaportek patented essential oil membranes to release non-toxic, odor-neutralizing dry vapor into the air.
Thermal Foggers • Used to cover odors in areas and on items.
Air Scrubber • Air scrubbers are used to remove particles in the air. They are HEPA filtering devices.
Resources IICRC - http://www.iicrc.org/ ACGIH - http://www.acgih.org/home.htm ASCR - http://www.ascr.org/ OSHA - http://www.osha.gov/ EPA - http://www.epa.gov/ NAHB - http://www.nahb.org/ Your Local Paul Davis Representative!
Thank You For Coming! Continuing Education Presented by:
