Canadian Underwriter

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News Risk Managers

How your client can save money by detecting plumbing problems

March 13, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Canadian property clients could soon get an insurance discount by installing products from water flow sensing vendor Triple Plus Ltd. Triple Plus recently announced a pilot project in which American clients of Berkshire Hathaway GUARD can get lower property insurance

News Risk Managers

What surprises this broker about sports insurance

March 11, 2019 by Dan Ralph THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO – He has played Canadian university football and coached the game, but Todd Smith is waiting before he lets his two sons get on the field. “I’m not in a rush to put my kids into football just knowing

News CatastrophesInsurersRisk Managers

Wildfire catastrophe models need improvement: Reinsurer

March 8, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

The world’s second-largest reinsurer is looking for partners in the artificial intelligence space to help the reinsurer get a better idea of how much insured damage future wildfires could cause. Swiss Re is working with the Massachusetts Institute of technology

News LegalRisk Managers

This research can help defend slip and fall claims

March 6, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

If your client owns or manages a property, can it put a number on the slipperiness of the surfaces? This is what companies managing an Ottawa property did after they were sued for $2.9 million by a civil servant who

News Risk Managers

What lies behind the unexpected Alberta quake

March 6, 2019 by Jason Contant

Perhaps the largest-ever earthquake to hit a section of central Alberta caused no immediate reports of damage, but knocked out power for more than 4,000 customers. Could fracking be the culprit? In this case, Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is probing

News LegalRisk Managers

$75-million shareholders’ lawsuit proposed against SNC Lavalin

February 26, 2019 by THE CANADIAN PRESS

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. faces new legal troubles as a shareholder aims to launch a class action lawsuit in connection with the criminal charges against the embattled engineering firm. Law firm Strosberg Sasso Sutts LLP has filed a proposed class action

News ClaimsRisk Managers

How railway is dealing with Manitoba oil spill

February 22, 2019 by THE CANADIAN PRESS

LAZARE, Man. – CN is still tallying up the amount of oil spilled in a train derailment on a ranch in western Manitoba. “We are still determining volume estimates at this time,” company spokesman Jonathan Abecassis said in an email

News Risk ManagersTechnology

How your client’s directors could be blamed for cyber losses

February 14, 2019 by Greg Meckbach

Cyber risk awareness is on the rise among corporate directors, who could face liability risk if they are accused of being lax on governance. “Corporate clients are more likely to be aware today, compared to a few years ago, of

News Risk Managers

Why your clients will buy insurance only after a disaster

February 12, 2019 by Jason Contant

Due to six decision biases, consumers will typically not protect themselves against low-probability, high-consequence events until it is too late, a keynote speaker said recently at the CatIQ Connect conference in Toronto. When consumers decide not to purchase insurance or

News ClaimsRisk Managers

Dozens of freight cars derail in fatal train accident

February 5, 2019 by THE CANADIAN PRESS

FIELD, B.C. – A Canadian Pacific freight train fell more than 60 metres from a bridge near the Alberta-British Columbia boundary in a derailment that killed three crew members, a union representative said Monday. The westbound freight jumped the tracks

News CommercialRisk Managers

The “perfect storm” conditions for commercial rate increases

February 4, 2019 by Jason Contant

The past few years have created a perfect storm leading to an increase in commercial insurance rates, Signature Risk Partners Inc. says in a white paper released last week, entitled Hard Commercial Insurance Market on the Way. One factor is

News Risk Managers

Transportation Safety Board involved in probe of crane collapsing on ship

February 1, 2019 by THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER – The Transportation Safety Board is deploying a team of investigators to the Port of Vancouver following the collapse of a large crane onto a loaded container vessel. A statement from the safety board says the ship, the Ever