Provided by Willis North America
Protect your facility over Thanksgiving and Winter Break
What is the damage?
- Freeze, water damage and vandalism claims are the most frequent occuring claims from November through January.
Why did this happen?
- Chapter members turned off the heat thinking they would save some money.
- The pilot light on the furnance blew out.
- No one was in charge of checking on the house over the holiday breaks.
- The chapter house was not securely locked making it an attractive target to vandals and thieves.
Read more…
Irene, the 9th named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season strengthened over Puerto Rico becoming the first hurricane. In addition, based on the current forecast, Irene is poised to come very close to the southeast United States later this week. NOW is the time to start preparing since all hurricanes and tropical storms pose serious threats to property and business revenue stream. The following is a synopsis of loss prevention measures from Willis that you can take to reduce property damage and business downtime from wind and flood.
BEFORE THE STORM
- Review/update business continuity/disaster recovery plan.
- Review procedures with your internal emergency response team to ensure all positions are filled and all members are properly trained.
- Make sure that all of the brothers in the chapter share contact information with each other.
- Make sure the house corporation and chapter advisers have contact information for brothers living in and out of the house.
- Check the general condition of the building – specifically the roof covering, roof flashing and roof drains. Make all necessary repairs.
- Order emergency supplies such as plywood for windows, mops, brooms, tarpaulins for key equipment, sandbags, etc.
- Identify key equipment, stock and supplies, and vital records that will need to be relocated or moved.
- Assemble materials needed to secure outside and/or roof mounted equipment such as cranes, signs, trailers and HVAC equipment.
- Monitor commercial TV, radio and/or internet web sites to keep abreast of weather conditions and issuance of watches and/or warnings.
- Test all generators, emergency lighting, UPS equipment and sump pumps to ensure proper operation.
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Preparing a chapter house for extremely cold temperatures
With temperatures expected to be at or below freezing for much of the country this week, it is imperative you take the time to properly prepare your chapter house for the cold weather.
During periods of extreme colder temperatures
- Service your furnace or boiler system—boiler pipes pose a particular risk in this weather.
- Open the indoor faucets slightly to allow water to trickle as moving water does not freeze as easily.
- Leave the doors to cabinets that contain water lines open, this will allow heat to enter the area and help prevent freeze.
- Make sure that attic areas are well insulated to prevent the formation of ice dams.
- Respond to any leaks promptly to mitigate damage and prevent further harm.
- Make sure that appropriate chapter members know where the main water shut off is as well as any other water shut offs (e.g. around commodes), and that they are in good working condition.
Read more…
Severe Winter Weather Property Risk Control
WEATHER HAZARDS & PRECAUTIONS
Winter weather not only brings freezing temperatures with it, but all the frozen goodies that cause havoc for properties and businesses, such as wind, hail, ice, freezing rain and of course snow! Severe winter weather threatens most of the country at some point, and can result in property damage and business interruption.
What to do? Plan! Businesses can take steps to ensure that severe winter weather does not result in an incident that damages property and leads to a lengthy Business Interruption loss.
This bulletin discusses basic risk control measures to reduce the risk potential for facilities exposed to severe winter weather.
Read more…
Sprinkler systems can be a way to protect the health and safety of your members living in fraternity/sorority housing, but they can be complicated to install. Joe Renie of SimplexGrinnell has offered to shed some light on the topic of sprinkler installation for local fraternity/sorority volunteers.
Joe is the Business Development Manager for SimplexGrinnell responsible for the Greek housing market. He has 30 years of experience in the construction business with the last 20 years with SimplexGrinnell and has participated in all aspects of the fire protection industry.
He will be hosting a webinar, Sprinkler 101, on November 9, November 18 and again on November 22 at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time/8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Read more…
At the 154th Anniversary Convention held June 30th thru July 3rd in Orlando Florida it was announced that Theta Chi would be making changes to its current general liability insurance program in relation to coverage for undergraduate chapters and house corporations effective October 1st. This change is being made due to the rising cost of insurance and litigation incurred by Theta Chi chapters and house corporations. To date all house corporations have been provided “general liability” coverage at no additional charge when their associated undergraduate chapter paid their risk management assessment. Theta Chi has elected to accept a reduction in the coverage made available to undergraduate chapters and house corporations under the national fraternity sponsored program to a limit of $250,000 per occurrence (chapter/house corporation) and $500,000 in the aggregate per location in an effort to control future cost of insurance.
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By Bobbi Larsen
Before you know, it will be the last week of school and students will be completing final exams. Summer break, or the months of May through August, is a high risk period of time for chapter houses. It is important you take the time to properly prepare your chapter house for the summer break period.
The leading risks to a chapter facility during the summer break period are:
- Fire
- Vandalism
- Theft
- Water damage
- Wind
- Hail
Read more…
A single sprinkler head can discharge 20-40 gallons of water per minute. While accidental activation is rare, Willis North America has seen multiple damage claims in which a sprinkler head activated by being hit by a football or similar object or from hanging items from the sprinkler head.
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Making sure you select the right contractor can save you down the road.
By Mick McGill
The roles and responsibilities of ownership and property management of a fraternity/sorority house can be complex and time consuming. A facility housing a large number of undergraduate students requires a hands-on approach and constant monitoring to ensure the facility remains a source of pride for the organization and also provides a safe living environment for its tenants. Owners and Housing Corporations are constantly identifying and making decisions as to what construction projects are warranted to ensure the facility remains in good physical condition. This process results in contracting with local construction companies to complete the applicable work.
When entering into agreements with contractors or other entities, it is very important to be wary of the terms and conditions associated Read more…
Recently I sat down to review the insurance coverage by house corporations that have loans with The Norwich Housing Corporation. I found that several corporations had low or no Business Income (BI) and Extra Expense Coverage (EE). So I started to wonder how many other Theta Chi house corporations don’t have adequate BI and EE coverage. If something happens to the chapter house and the house corporation has a mortgage, how is the corporation going to pay the monthly mortgage? What are they going to do to house the brothers living in the house?
To get a better understanding of this coverage, I contacted our friends at Willis North America. As always, they were able to provide me some great information on this issue.
Business Income (BI) and Extra Expense (EE) is an additional coverage available through most insurance programs. While it is not required, it is a recommended coverage and all chapters owning or leasing a property should purchase it. Business Income (BI) and Extra Expense (EE) coverage protects a chapter against a financial loss in the event a chapter house becomes uninhabitable and the income generated by its tenants is lost. It also protects against increased expenses to keep your chapter operating without interruption. A covered loss must be the cause for the loss of income or increased expense in order to be covered.
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