Commercial Insurance - SPS Group Claims Case Sudy
Incident Date: 08/10/05
Claim Settlement: In excess of £1m
THE CIRCUMSTANCES
The units had been shut down for the night and the premises were unoccupied. A fire was discovered at 10:30pm on 8th October 2005, and the local fire brigade responded quickly, bringing the fire under control and eventually extinguishing it by 11:30pm that night.
As well as there being fire and smoke damage to the factory and office buildings, a number of key pieces of printing equipment and machinery were very badly damaged or totally destroyed, along with stocks of paper and printing materials. In addition to this was the unavoidable damage caused in the course of the fire crew gaining access to the premises and pumping water onto the blaze to prevent it from spreading.
This was SPS Print Group's busiest time of the year, and the fire had a major effect on the production of work.
THE COLEMAN RESPONSE
Coleman received a call from our client at 8am on Sunday 9th October to say they had suffered a fire the previous evening, thought to be caused by an electrical fault. We met onsite with the Managing Director, James Martin and his senior management team that morning to advise them on the claims process that would ensue and to reassure them that their Commercial Combined policy, underwritten by Allianz, would respond to their needs.
Coleman immediately arranged to appoint Cunningham Lindsay as the Loss Adjuster using their 24hr helpline and their representative was onsite by 2pm on the same day, reporting back to Coleman with their findings on Monday 10th October.
Local contractor, MGP Projects Ltd were appointed immediately to manage the clean up and arrange for securing of the premises, and SPS Print Group then began the long and arduous task of recovering from a major loss.
The first order of business was to hire security guards to secure the site, arrange to outsource their immediate printing needs, and rally their staff to work overtime to keep up with customer's demands, running their available machines at full capacity.
The first of a series of review meetings took place onsite on 11th October with Coleman Claims Manager Nigel Edwards in attendance, along with representatives from Cunningham Lindsay, MGP Projects & Wedgewood Associates (structural engineering/planning specialists).
By 17th October the office, IT equipment & stock cleaning was complete, the building of the temporary drying room was established, and emergency electrics were installed including emergency lighting in the factory. In addition, replacement parts were on order for repairable machines, emergency works on the heating system had been completed, and a temporary carpet had been fitted in the offices for the comfort of staff.
With effective communication between broker and insurer, Coleman was able to confirm to SPS Print Group on 27th October that the claim would be fully indemnified by Allianz.
It was agreed that a series of interim payments would be made to SPS via Coleman, the first of which was made on 15th November, with further payments being made in December, January, and April to cover ongoing costs. By the middle of June a final cash settlement was agreed between SPS and Allianz, with full and final payment being made on 18th July 2006.
That it took just over nine months to settle a claim of this magnitude, and for the business to be back up and running successfully, is testament to the hard work and co-operation of all parties involved, and the importance of employing a broker who you can trust to respond positively in a time of need, regardless of the time or day.
James Martin, Managing Director of SPS Print Group commented:
"At the moment the fire hit our premises I found myself on a crest of a rollercoaster of issues, from emotional ones to the practical ones. Not only had the business I've put my life into been jeopardised, but there was a whole host of practical 'to-do's' that needed sorting out simultaneously, if I was going to minimise the impact on our trading.
On receiving the call from us on Sunday morning, a Coleman representaive was on the site within the hour helping me to rationalise a) what I needed to do, and b) when I needed to do it. My fear in trying to 'make good' all the things I needed to do was that I was either going to incur costs that were uninsurable or, worse still, compromise the terms of the insurance agreement.
Coleman were able to hold my hand through the process from that day forward, giving good advice and assurances of our position, prior to the claim being settled. After that unfortunate day the Coleman team have represented more than just an insurance broker to SPS, as they really understand the meaning of great service."
