CSIO invites input on draft application forms for pollution coverage

The Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) is introducing draft versions of two pollution liability insurance application forms — one for premises owners and the other for contractors — with a working group scheduled to meet by webinar June 11.

In an e-mail to members this week, Toronto-based CSIO sent PDF versions of the draft forms for review. CSIO has scheduled a webinar from 2 to 4 p.m. ET on June 11, when it is set to gather feedback from members. The target audience for the webinar is experts in environment and pollution.

Toronto-based CSIO, a standards association of property and casualty insurers, brokers and software providers, oversees development, implementation and maintenance of information technology standards in Extensible Markup Language (XML) and electronic data interchange (EDI). It also produces standardized forms, which are available only to CSIO members, including brokers who are members of their provincial associations.

The draft version of the premises owner’s application form for pollution coverage asks for a variety of information, such as data on above-ground and underground storage tanks for each location, plus land use and previous occupancy. It also asks applicants to describe waste disposal procedures.

The form for contractors asks for total revenue – and the percentage of that revenue which is subcontracted – for a variety of operations, such as demolition, painting, road construction, asbestos abatement and lead abatement. It also asks a series of questions, such as whether there is a waiver of subrogation provision for the applicant on the subcontractor’s policies and whether subcontracted work is inspected and supervised by the applicant.

CSIO also announced this week that a conference is scheduled July 23 for the working group for CSIO’s proposed application form for inland marine transportation coverage.

Forms currently available to CSIO members include applications for auto, habitational, commercial general liability, builder’s risk and farm, among others. Other CSIO forms include questionnaires for sewer backup and solid fuel heating, as well as various supplements, such as farm structures and contents, farm machinery and equipment, chemicals, fertilizers, feed, grain and produce.

Other CSIO activities include a certification program for eDocs. The eDocs standard is intended to let brokers download policy documents directly from a carrier’s computer system to a broker management system (BMS), and to store those documents in their BMS without manual intervention.

As of April, CSIO had certified six insurance carriers and six technology vendors. CSIO plans to expand its certification program to cover other business activities, such as claims notification and billing inquiry.