issue 011, 2019

Catastrophe risks — Are you prepared?

BY TOM SIMONCIC President, Property Americas, Sedgwick

In 2018, natural and man-made catastrophes disrupted thousands of lives and caused extensive damage to homes and businesses worldwide. Global insured losses from these catastrophes are estimated to be USD $79 billion. Some of last year’s devastating events include Hurricanes Michael and Florence, wildfires in Europe and California, volcano eruptions in Hawaii, earthquakes in Japan, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and floods in Japan and India.

When property damages and losses occur as a result of extreme weather or another type of disaster, it is important to have claims partners that can respond quickly and offer flexibility to meet the needs of customers and policyholders throughout the entire process.

Key considerations
To ensure you are in the best position to respond, businesses need to have a disaster plan in place and partners with experience managing catastrophe (CAT) claims, whether that’s locally, regionally or globally. Services and capabilities to ensure the best possible outcomes should include:

  • Expertise to support your local, regional or global needs
  • Dedicated teams that are ready to deploy quickly to respond to property claims, inspect losses and manage the post-disaster claims process
  • Experience with all types of claims — in all types of locations
  • The ability to accurately determine coverage, and provide appropriate, insightful reporting and analysis throughout the life of a claim
  • Access to a full range of pre- and post-loss specialty solutions including building consulting, forensic advisory, mitigation bill review, contents and valuation solutions, as well as forensic engineering, failure analysis, origin and cause investigations, environmental consulting and repair services
  • Mobile technology and resources that can provide necessary infrastructure
  • Support for communities and local teams to enable them to do their jobs under difficult conditions

Following a disaster, food, water and shelter are the top priorities. From there, it’s not enough to simply have people in place; those people need technology, support and secure places from which to stage recovery efforts. It is important to have the tools and resources to begin managing claims promptly, such as laptops, phones and additional phone lines, so CAT claims teams can manage the hundreds of calls coming in and efficiently set up claims.

Photographs with questions in them

Adherence to all local and national regulations is also a key part of the process. Effective partners will have the ability to quickly set up in-country operations for field loss adjusting, and staff and support expanded CAT claims teams, if needed.

Tools like satellite images and drones can be used as needed to get an immediate picture of the environment to assess the damages. These virtual video tours enable adjusters to experience the loss without leaving their desk, and the on-site inspectors and adjuster can upload videos, photos and inspection reports directly from the scene into the claim file. Having a geo-location system ensures resources are deployed exactly where and when they are needed. With the ability to video chat and share critical on-site information with the desk adjuster, claims teams can speed up the resolution and payment processes.

There are advanced technology options that can support the claims process after a catastrophic event by helping claims teams to:

  • Evaluate and estimate damages to facilitate recovery efforts and quickly get help to those who need it most
  • Conduct hazard assessments without risking human resources
  • Improve cycle time
  • Control travel expenses and associated risks
  • Expedite claim settlement
  • Increase customer/policyholder satisfaction

The right partnerships and tools can mean the difference between quickly amassing a backlog of site visits vs. being ready at a moment’s notice to serve clients. Those with the ability to enlist additional resources, such as adjusters, inspectors and contractors, can ensure assignments are effectively managed when and where they are needed. Connected technology enables those in the field to smoothly partner with desk adjusters to capture the right details and quickly resolve claims.

Sedgwick can provide a full range of specialty solutions to assist clients and policyholders with property claims. Our highly-qualified adjusters, advanced technology and wide array of resources enable us to handle all types of losses including commercial property, general liability, builder’s risk, business interruption, energy, homeowners, heavy equipment, inland marine, marine survey, cargo, boiler and machinery, and agriculture.

Fire Extinguisher tablet and bag

Sedgwick’s CAT services in action


Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria
These Category 4 and 5 hurricanes destroyed homes and businesses, and impacted our clients, colleagues and offices in various regions in the United States including Texas, Florida and the Caribbean. The total number of claims we handled from all three hurricanes combined exceeded 50,000, with more than 200,000 locations to be addressed. A group of more than 2,500 colleagues and claims teams from 25 countries in our global network worked together to assist with property claims, and helped our clients and their policyholders manage the process and restore a sense of normalcy for homeowners and business owners

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Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank
Major flooding from these three storms devastated parts of the U.K. and cost insurers £1.3bn. Sedgwick managed 10,000 claims for clients that experienced property damage. Deployment drone services helped us find key locations that were severely impacted or not accessible due to the flooding. Our CAT team, bolstered by experienced adjusters from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, was able to shorten cycle times by several weeks, helping customers get back to business and return to their homes. 

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Hurricane Michael
We managed 50,000 claims for clients that experienced property damage during Hurricane Michael and our CAT team was able to drive cycle times down from weeks to days. We were able to achieve these results by proactively mapping locations that might be severely impacted and deploying resources in advance. Our people, processes and technology enabled us to achieve exceptional results. 

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