How a Commercial Inspection Raises Awareness of Hazardous Property Conditions

Desperate times call for desperate measures. When the economy tanked in 2008, the number of lawsuits increased dramatically. While we’re fortunately now recovering from the Great Recession, businesses are still at risk of being served lawsuits from accidents that happen on their property.

An example of one of these lawsuits recently happened to a city in Michigan. A 90-year-old woman sued Bay City, Michigan when she tripped and fell on a sidewalk. She was walking home from a hair salon and tripped on a sidewalk that she claimed was uneven, causing her to fracture her shoulder, wrist, and nose. The city claimed that the woman’s injuries were from her own negligence. As a result of the lawsuit, Bay City paid the woman nearly $350,000 to settle the lawsuit, and the city increased property taxes by one percent to fund a sidewalk replacement program.

A Commercial Inspection is a Critical Component of Risk Assessment
When insurance carriers are speaking with commercial clients about liability policies for their properties, it’s important to assess any hazardous conditions on the property that could result in a lawsuit. Common issues with a property include faulty design, shoddy construction, poor maintenance, and dangerous clutter.

In an effort to compete in today’s marketing, some insurance carriers are choosing to forgo a commercial inspection in the underwriting process. The challenge with eliminating the commercial inspection is that many of the hazardous property conditions mentioned above would not be identified and considered when assessing risk. Not considering potentially dangerous property conditions creates tremendous exposure for insurance carriers.

How Commercial Inspections Offer Value to Insureds and Insurance Carriers
Our team at Insurance Risk Services has been partnering with property and casualty insurance carriers for more than 35 years to provide thorough and accurate underwriting reports. By conducting a commercial inspection, our seasoned professionals are able to get valuable face time with insureds and identify risks such as hazardous conditions that may otherwise go undetected.

In many cases, a commercial inspection can make property owners aware of risks associated with the property that they weren’t already aware of. Because we represent the insurance carrier when conducting property inspections, we can bring a lot of value to the relationship with insureds by making them aware of these risks and how to mitigate or eliminate them.

Contact us at Insurance Risk Services to learn how commercial property inspections can help insurance carriers to uncover hazardous conditions and minimize risk.