AAIS
is updating its classifications for assigning fire
protection rating factors.
Insurers affiliated with AAIS for use of its
Commercial Properties Program
were issued a bulletin last week announcing the countrywide filing of
expanded fire protection classifications; the filing carries a proposed
effective date of Sept. 1, 2008. Similar filings will be made in coming
months in other AAIS programs that provide property coverage.
Since its introduction in the late 1970s, AAIS's
simplified fire protection classifications have allowed insurers to place a
commercial risk
in one of three classifications:
-
Protected, which refers
to buildings located within 1,000 feet of a
fire hydrant and within five road miles of a
responding fire department (AAIS personal
lines programs include other qualifying
criteria);
-
Partially Protected,
which refers to buildings located more than
1,000 feet from a fire hydrant but within
five road miles of a responding fire
department; and
-
Unprotected, which
refers to buildings that are not classified
as protected or partially protected.
With the revision now being filed,
the "Protected" classification is being replaced
with five separate tiers (Protected 1, Protected
2, and so on) that correspond to the distance of
a risk from a responding fire department (but
all still within five miles).
The changes now being proposed continue to rely
upon readily available information, either
through the use of geographical information
systems, such as the Risk Meter service
available through AAISdirect, or through
standard application entries.
Several company chief executives have confirmed that
they will participate in the CEO Panel discussion at the AAIS Main Event
conference, April 20-22 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
Among the panelists will be:
-
AAIS Vice Chairman
Darin Kath, president and CEO of Jewelers Mutual Ins. Co., Neenah, Wisc.;
-
Robert Restrepo, chairman, president, and
CEO of State Auto Ins. Cos., Columbus, Ohio; and
-
Robert Wadsworth, chairman and CEO of
Preferred Mutual Ins. Co., New Berlin, N.Y., and former chairman of
AAIS and the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.
AAIS Chairman
James Sullivan, president and CEO of Co-Operative Ins. Cos.,
Middlebury, Vt., will moderate the panel. Other CEOs have been invited.
For a detailed description of the meeting and
its social events,
To register for the Main Event,
Register by Feb. 29 to qualify for the early-bird discount on your
registration fee.
To reserve a room at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club,
For more information, contact Joseph Harrington,
director of corporate communications, at
joeh@AAISonline.com, or by
calling 800-564-AAIS.
The latest set of enhancements to the
AAISdirect Internet service
includes a feature that will allow subscribers to add documents to a
'download cart' and, when ready, compress and download the contents of
the cart to the user's PC or network.
Similar to the experience one might find in a
shopping cart at an online retail outlet, users can add "items" to the
download cart in groups or one at a time. The items will remain in the
cart while the user browses other parts of AAISdirect, moves to other
websites, or even logs off AAISdirect. When the user returns to
AAISdirect, the contents of the cart will still be there.
Documents can be downloaded in any format provided
on AAISdirect, including Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat.
AAIS affiliates interested in signing up for AAISdirect
can
contact Rick Maka, AAIS director of marketing, at
rickm@AAISonline.com or by
calling 800/564-AAIS.
AAIS has submitted all form filings needed to comply
with the latest extension of the federal terrorism reinsurance program,
more than 800 filings in all.
Companies using AAIS programs in affected lines will
receive a bulletin this week providing a status of state approvals.
Updates of that status report will be issued periodically over the
coming weeks and months.
AAIS has now begun filing terrorism manual
supplements revised to reflect new rating considerations under the
program extension, among them the elimination of the distinction between
domestic and foreign terrorism in the determination of what constitutes
a "certified" act of terrorism.
Insurers that write liability coverage are invited
to participate in a special AAIS research study regarding the frequency
and severity of claims for personal injury, such as libel, slander, and
violation of privacy.
In particular, carriers are asked to respond to a
voluntary call for personal injury claims data from 2002 through 2006.
Information and instructions are available in a Microsoft Word
document, and a
Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
is provided for responding to the data call.
The study seeks to determine how the frequency and
severity of personal injury claims have been affected by:
-
The growing use of e-mail, blogs, "gripe sites,"
networking sites, picture/video phones, and other forms of
electronic communication; and
-
The growing incidence of "cyberbullying" and
other offensive behaviors associated with these communications.
All carriers that write personal injury coverage can
participate, whether they are AAIS members or not. Companies that
provide data will receive a report with the aggregate results, plus
analysis.
If you have questions about the study, contact Greg
Jaynes, director of actuarial services, at
gregj@AAISonline.com, or Larry
Thill, manager of data management, at
larryt@AAISonline.com.
