App to help customers have quicker environmental spill emergency response: Zurich

Zurich has released a mobile app – designed for qualified customers throughout North America in industries that deal with hazardous materials – meant to help them speed up response to spills requiring emergency environmental clean-up.

The Zurich Environmental Emergency Response (ZEER) app is designed for industries, including transportation and manufacturing, where hazardous materials spills can lead to environmental contamination at or beyond a company’s facilities, notes a statement last week from the global multi-line insurer.

Originally developed for Zurich’s environmental underwriting and claims professionals – in collaboration with environmental response company Spill Center, Inc. – ZEER offers customers the ability to report spills from a mobile device immediately at the scene of an incident. Among other things, the app can do or be used to do the following:

• provide customers access to a 365/24/7 call centre for environmental spill consultation;
• generate spill reports, on behalf of customers, to help meet regulatory requirements to reduce liability exposures and possible penalties;
• provide customized, internal alerts for a customer’s crisis management communications;
• geo-locate the spill requiring emergency environmental clean-up via customer’s mobile device; and
• immediately upload critical data for a spill report, such as insurance policy information and spill location.

“An accidental spill that results in an environmental hazard is, for most businesses, an extraordinary occurrence,” Steve Hatch, chief claims officer for Zurich North America, notes in the company statement. That said, every business should be prepared, Hatch emphasizes, adding the new app “can help customers mitigate damages and reduce potential liability associated with spills.”

For Android, Blackberry and Apple devices, the mobile app is available for use in both English and French.

Noting that the world is experiencing a huge increase in innovation of various kinds, “Zurich is incorporating new technology into its own efforts to increase efficiency and profitability and, in turn, improve the quality of products and services we provide to our customers,” the statement adds.