As Impact of Natural Disasters Increases, FM Global Dedicates New Center for Property Risk Solutions and Opens 21st Century Learning Simulator

As Impact of Natural Disasters Increases, FM Global Dedicates New Center for Property Risk Solutions and Opens 21st Century Learning Simulator












Norwood, Mass., USA (PRWEB) September 21, 2011

In a year of unprecedented natural disasters and hundreds of billions of dollars in property damage worldwide, FM Global, one of the world’s largest business property insurers, has created the Center for Property Risk Solutions, marked by the opening of a new US$ 5 million experiential learning facility called the FM Global SimZone.

“The FM Global Center for Property Risk Solutions is the starting point for all the intellectual drivers for our property loss prevention expertise,” said Shivan S. Subramaniam, chairman and CEO. “With the opening of the FM Global SimZone, we’ve taken our capabilities far beyond where we’ve been before by creating a way for our engineers to experience our engineering solutions in a hands-on manner.”

Located outside of Boston, the FM Global Center for Property Risk Solutions houses the one-of-a-kind SimZone as well as the company’s scientific research operations, product-testing and certification division, offices for the development of property protection engineering guidelines and enterprise learning classrooms.

Like FM Global’s state-of-the-art, 1,600-acre Research Campus located in Rhode Island, the Center for Property Risk Solutions is central to the value the company provides its FORTUNE 1000-sized clients. “No organization has a center like this,” Subramaniam said. “It is the fountainhead of everything FM Global does for propelling its property protection guidance worldwide.”

A 21st Century Classroom Like No Other

The FM Global SimZone now enables the company to create simulations of environments and property hazards its loss prevention engineering consultants are likely to encounter.

The 21st century simulation-based classroom brings to life real-world educational scenarios involving common risks like fire, ignitable liquid, construction, equipment malfunction and electrical hazards. In the SimZone, thousands of possible property risk simulations can be created. These simulations provide hands-on opportunities for the company’s 1,800 engineers, and eventually clients, to apply their knowledge and critical-thinking skills to better protect business property from disasters.

“FM Global is the only insurance company with a facility that can simulate most types of potential property risks. That gives our engineers tremendous insights they can share with clients,” Subramaniam added. “The Center for Property Risk Solutions and the SimZone will help ensure property risks are only a distraction, not a disaster, for our clients.”

FM Global has occupied the Norwood, Mass., complex that is now the Center since the 1950s.

About FM Global

Established in 1835, FM Global (http://www.fmglobal.com) is a US$ 4.7 billion mutual insurance company, whose clients include more than one of every three FORTUNE 1000 companies and similar-sized organizations in more than 130 countries. FM Global works with its clients to develop robust property insurance and engineering solutions to protect business operations from fire, natural disasters and other types of property risk. Named “Best Global Property Insurer” by Global Finance magazine and “Best Property Insurer in the World” by Euromoney magazine, the company is rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best and ‘AA’ (Very Strong) by Fitch Ratings.

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Related Business Property Insurance Press Releases

Technology Insurance – Liability Coverage In The Digital Age

Article by Madison Lockwood









Any young occupant of a corporate workplace who has had their PC crash knows the feeling of dread when the IT expert emerges from the basement, rambles into the cubicle and says “Alright. What did you do?” It seems, however, that has IT has absorbed the science of networking and has also grown increasingly complex, liability for software firms, IT firms and internet businesses has become an issue that transcends the cubicle occupant.

Technology insurance is in essence liability insurance. It is designed to protect software and IT companies whose programming errors result in business setbacks for corporations using their products and services. Further, technology insurance refers to policies that protect internet businesses from unauthorized release of private information held on their servers. There are some principal categories of technology insurance that mirror, to some degree, the general categories of business liability.

* Technology errors and omissions insurance provides protection if your software or programming fails to perform as promised, or if errors in programming or product structure result in major client problems. “Cyber liability” in general addresses first- and third-party risks associated with e-business, the Internet, networks and informational assets

* Directors and Officers liability insurance is now available to those functioning in the startup and IPO arena. This insurance covers the principal players not in established firms so much as in those that fail to deliver the commercial success that early investors anticipated.

More specific forms of technology insurance include specific policies relating to:

* Network management* Computer consulting* Online transactional business* Disaster recovery* Data processing/programming services* Intellectual property insurance

With any liability insurance policy, the question of how much you need is directly related to how much you are protecting in the way of assets. One of the important components of liability insurance in any of these fields is coverage for legal expenses. Businesses attempting to quantify damage to their functionality and put a price to their losses as a result of digital malfunction are going to be faced with a complicated burden of proof. Obscure issues generally mean longer periods of deliberation and higher legal bills.

In the case of protection from online theft from hackers, the liability parameters for those sorts of incidents remain largely undefined. There have been no major cases where awards were made in class actions due to the release of thousands of individual’s private records.

Websites that provide a platform for online business transactions usually have a policy agreement that users must read and check off before they can utilize the site. That probably cuts down on frivolous lawsuits over sour transactions, but it does not provide anything like complete protection for the site operator.

This is “first person and third person” coverage that is somewhat different from standard product liability insurance because the only product the site provides is the transaction platform itself. Nevertheless, insurance covers the inevitable legal activity that any business involved in any fashion with a high volume of transactions is going to encounter.

The answer to “how much should I have?” is “consult your broker.” Liability insurance hasn’t changed; only the tools for mismanagement and the types of errors have changed. A good insurance broker can assess what coverage is necessary and clauses are “window dressing” provided by the underwriter.



About the Author

Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate, specializing in small business development, for Apollo Hosting. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers.










Naturesave Launches the UK?s First Small Scale Renewable Energy Systems Insurance Cover

Naturesave Launches the UK’s First Small Scale Renewable Energy Systems Insurance Cover











Managing Director, Matthew Criddle


(PRWEB UK) 2 October 2011

Naturesave, which won the Queen’s Award for Industry earlier this year, will provide the radical new policy from early October, which will cover Renewable Energy Installations for schools, small businesses and community organisations – and guarantee green energy revenues.

The only cover of its kind in the UK, the Small Scale Renewable Energy scheme has been set up to ensure that organisations and businesses, who have installed green energy systems, have access to realistic and affordable cover for the equipment and guaranteed protection for the revenues they earn in the event of mechanical breakdown or material damage, as well as public liability.

There has been increasing commercial interest in installing renewable energy systems, following the introduction in April 2010 of Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) for renewable energy. Technology is becoming more efficient and affordable, and businesses, community organisations and schools are now seeing the benefits of renewable energy in terms of cost savings as well as reducing their environmental impact.

Matthew Criddle, Managing Director, comments, ‘Naturesave has been at the leading edge of ethical and environmental insurance for 18 years, as has been acknowledged by our recent Queens Award for Enterprise Award, the first insurance provider in the UK to win for Sustainable Development. This new product follows on from our launch earlier this year of the UK’s first Household Renewable Energy policy and is a natural next step. We are pleased to be able to include this additional cover and understand that it is the only product of its kind in the UK.’

Cover will be provided for organisations with those types of renewable energy installation (eligible for FITs) including wind turbines, solar photovoltaics and hydro systems. At this stage cover will be available on systems up to 750 kW, for either individual systems or as part of a group of project sites, which are individually less than 750 kW.

More information can be found on the website: http://www.naturesave.co.uk


FURTHER INFORMATION

Under the Feed-in Tariff scheme, payments are made to organisations and communities who generate their own electricity from renewable sources such as solar electricity (PV) panels, wind turbines or hydro systems. The scheme guarantees a minimum payment for all electricity generated by the system, in addition to separate payment for the electricity exported to grid, and any savings made on the electricity bill by using the electricity generated. The monies paid depend on the type of renewable energy system and the amount of electricity produced. These payments are in addition to the bill savings made by using the electricity generated on-site. A typical small business could expect to save around £1,200 per year on average by installing a 4kw solar PV roof mounted system costing £12,000. The income is guaranteed for 25 years.

The policy covers renewable energy systems against:

●    Material damage to (lightning, storm, theft, impact, vandalism etc)

●    Machinery breakdown (over and above that covered by any existing warranty)

●    Loss of revenue (caused by material damage or machinery breakdown)

●    Public Liability insurance (third party property damage and bodily injury)

More information about Feed-in Tariffs and the levels for each type of renewable energy system can be found on the Department of Energy and Climate Change website: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/uk_supply/energy_mix/renewable/feedin_tariff/feedin_tariff.aspx

●    Naturesave Insurance is the UK’s only specialist ethical insurance provider which allows clients to protect themselves and the environment via a range of innovative insurance policies.

●    Naturesave won the Queen’s Award for Enterprises in 2011 for Sustainability.

●    Naturesave has become the preferred insurer of top Tibetan monks, Grand Designs Householders and Nelson Mandela’s charity 46664 – who asked the company to insure his 90th birthday celebrations in Hyde Park! As well as many environmental and conservationist companies and organisations throughout the UK.

●    Naturesave was set up in 1993 by eco and insurance industry expert Matthew Criddle (ex-Lloyds of London) and is based in one of the world’s most famous transition and eco towns, Totnes, to provide a vehicle for sustainable practices, using insurance. Naturesave counts the Transition Town movement as one of its clients throughout the UK.

●    It’s charity arm, The Naturesave Trust, has invested over £240,000 in eco projects since it began. Naturesave Insurance is the UK’s only specialist ethical insurance provider which allows clients to protect themselves and the environment via a range of innovative insurance policies.

How Naturesave differs from other insurance companies:

1.    10% of the premium from Naturesave’s household buildings and contents policies go into the Naturesave Trust, which provides grants for environmental and conservation projects. There are also eco living discounts offered for clients who are already making changes to their energy consumption.

2.    When you take out a commercial policy, an advisor will offer to visit your business premises to conduct a free environmental survey, and recommend how your working practices could be made more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

3.    Naturesave also acts as a lobbying force, advising and influencing insurance companies on how they can encourage the adoption of sustainable practices.

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Related Public Liability Insurance Press Releases

Why Your Business Needs Public Liability Insurance

Article by Dawie Bester









If you are a tradesperson or someone who operates a business where customers or visitors either enter your premises or you have to travel to your customers’ locations to execute your work, then you would need to have a public liability insurance policy. As the name implies, public liability insurance is an insurance policy that a tradesperson or business owner would purchase to protect a business from liability for injury or damage that could occur to other people or property, such as those occurring on your business property, or at the client’s establishment where you are conducting business. Basically, where clients and businesspeople are interacting, public liability insurance covers any possible damage or injury that can occur to people or property during the conducting of business or work.

If you own, or plan on owning a business in the future, one thing that will be extremely important is public liability insurance. What this means is that, if your business is responsible for injuring a third party, or is responsible for some type of damage to their surroundings wherever they may be, public liability insurance will protect them and cover them from any type of legal prosecution that they may be faced with. Without this insurance there as a safety net to handle any financial losses due to damages, you may be faced with paying out more then you can afford, at which point you’re basically out of business. If you want to avoid that from happening then you should make sure you have this very important insurance.

A number of businesses today are opting for public liability schemes despite the presence of some other type of business cover. However, you might already be covered by the public liability scheme as part of your existing business insurance. If you already have a public liability cover or you are planning to get one for your business, there are certain factors that you should keep in mind.

First and foremost, you should make sure that the public liability insurance you have opted for cater well to your business needs, depending upon the nature of business. You also need to estimate whether the existing cover is sufficient for your needs or if you need an extra coverage for protecting your business against other odds. You should also make sure that you are well aware of the terms and conditions of the insurance, so that you know what is covered under the policy and what is not. This would not only save you hassles later, but also ensure that you get an insurance cover for the aspects that were not covered in your earlier policy.

For any kind of business, you should make sure that you have all the insurance that is required. Firstly, you should understand the key points for the different types of insurance, and make sure that you have adequate public liability insurance, so that you can cover all the insurance required, if the business undergoes financial losses, or accidents that occur as a result of injury to a person or damage of the property.



About the Author

Discover how you can get cheap public liability insurance in South Africa by visiting business insurance South Africa.