Enhancing building codes to include early detection systems could help generate a faster response in the case of farm fires, said Ken Worsley, who leads Cowan Insurance Group’s national agri-commercial industry practice. Early response systems include things like heat, fire…
The Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) and Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) want to restore direct insurance industry involvement in the building code process. “At some point in the distant past, perhaps four decades ago or more, the Canadian…
A client occupying a tall wood building could face higher insurance costs, a group of masonry producers claims, while one fire insurer confirms such a building deserves closer scrutiny from an underwriter. Your insurance premiums would be higher as an…
This is Part 2 of the property loss review that began in the Feb-Mar issue of Claims Canada. Carter et al V. Intact Insurance Company, Ontario Court of Appeal, December 6, 2016 On March 16, 2011 a fire caused…
With severe weather expected to get worse in the years ahead, introducing small changes into building codes is critical, the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction’s (ICLR) managing director told Canadian Underwriter on Wednesday. “We are not talking about totally revamping…
Risk awareness is severely lacking and not enough attention is being paid to quake risk in eastern Canada, a region with “huge” loss-inflicting potential that a Swiss Re model projects could produce the country’s largest nat-Cat loss ever if the…
A recent ruling by Alberta’s Court of Appeal, finding insurers are not guarantors of construction, could have an impact on insurers facing large claims for pre-existing deficiencies or long-standing building code infractions revealed by inspections after damage from an insured peril. Does the reasoning mean insurers in Alberta no longer need to pay for deficiencies never realistically contemplated as being part of the insured risk?
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) cited the Canadian government’s budget commitment to create a Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund in a recommendation to its own federal government to treat the construction of mitigation infrastructure to protect flood-prone towns as…
Warranties that new homes in Ontario are free from defects should be available from multiple providers and treated as insurance products, former judge J. Douglas Cunningham recommended in a recent report. Warranty coverage currently available from Tarion Warranty Corp. “should…
There are encouraging signs from government, municipalities and builders that resiliency needs to become part of building code conversations given that severe weather shows no signs of abating, suggested John Taylor, president and CEO of the Ontario Mutual Insurance Association…
Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has voiced the property and casualty industry’s strong support for the federal government’s move to beef up investments aimed at enhancing resilience by better disaster-proofing communities. As part of the 2017 Federal Budget tabled Wednesday,…
The government of Manitoba announced on Wednesday that it is removing “unnecessary regulatory requirements” on the construction of farm buildings. Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler suggested in a statement that the removal of the regulations will support the long-term, sustainable…