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Mandatory building fire risk labels proposed

October 7, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

Fire safety can be impacted if a building is made from lightweight, prefabricated material, and legislation under debate would mandate placards for certain construction types in Ontario. “Truss and lightweight construction, when exposed to fire, can pose serious risks to responding firefighters,” Randy

News Risk

How Millenials are helping stop distracted driving

October 7, 2018 by Jason Contant

Millenials – the ever-connected, technologically savvy age group – are actually most likely to ask a driver to stop using their mobile device if they are a passenger, a new Travelers Canada survey has found. Distracted driving has been cited

News Risk

Threat of Canada Post strike still alive

October 7, 2018 Terry Pedwell - THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA – The union representing 50,000 employees at Canada Post panned the latest contract offers from the corporation Thursday, calling them “disappointing” and keeping alive the threat of a work stoppage as the busy holiday online shopping season approaches. Two

News InsuranceMarkets / CoveragesRisk

Will pot’s health effects lead to the industry’s next tobacco liability exposure?

October 3, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

Marijuana could cause mental illness among youth and government needs to find ways of preventing teens from using it, an Ontario politician said Tuesday. “There are many young people who had their lives turned upside down, and families turned upside

News ClaimsRisk

Artist or hoarder? Why insurers don’t like clutter

October 2, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

Self-employed artists who work from their own apartments with large quantities of material should have sprinkler systems and firewalls, a Toronto fire inspector suggests. In 2017, Toronto Fire Services ordered an apartment tenant – identified only as K.R. – to

News Legislation / RegulationRisk

The ‘wake-up call’ for brokers placing D&O liability

October 2, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

A multi-million-dollar pollution clean-up order that spooked the Canadian insurance industry has some commercial brokers taking a good hard look at the exact wording of mid- to large-sized clients’ directors and officers (D&O) liability policies. The Ontario Ministry of the

News InsuranceRisk

How driverless vehicles may make crash injuries worse

October 1, 2018 by Jason Contant

The severity of some accidents may increase as vehicles become driverless, in part because driver orientation will change, a crash reconstructionist told Canadian Underwriter in an interview last week. Currently, drivers are sitting in their seats, properly belted with their

News Mergers and AqcuisitionsRiskTechnology

Managing your client’s M&A risk with A.I.

October 1, 2018 by Greg Meckbach

Mergers and acquisitions come with risks for buyers, and one law firm uses machine learning to help clients manage at least some of those risks. One risk to a buyer is when the target company has liabilities – such as

News LegalMarkets / CoveragesRisk

Walmart fined $20K for selling contaminated food after Fort McMurray wildfire

October 1, 2018 The Canadian Press

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – Walmart Canada has been ordered to pay a $20,000 fine for selling contaminated food after a devastating wildfire in northern Alberta two years ago. Some of the charges against Walmart included failing to dispose of food

News InsuranceRisk

This province’s licence suspension system is ‘fundamentally flawed’

September 28, 2018 Peter Cameron - THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO – Ontario’s ombudsman says the system for notifying drivers that their licence has been suspended is “fundamentally flawed” leaving many people unwittingly driving with invalid licences. In a report released on Thursday, Paul Dube makes 42 recommendations designed to

News InsuranceRiskTechnology

Could smart cities be held liable for driverless car crashes?

September 27, 2018 by Jason Contant

Fully autonomous vehicles that communicate with other vehicles and city infrastructure will create a brand new exposure for insurers and municipalities. Traditionally, when there is a pedestrian bodily injury claim from a vehicle accident, there is two parties – the

News Risk

Air Canada pilots say near-collision a wake-up call on pilot fatigue

September 27, 2018 Ross Marowits - THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO – A near-collision of an Air Canada jet at San Francisco’s airport should be a wake-up call for the federal government to adequately address pilot fatigue for overnight flights, the union representing the airline’s pilots said Wednesday. “I don’t