New study, new data, so I thought I’d revisit a topic I explored before, about the willingness of consumers to share data to improve either their premium paid, their convenience, or their risk/safety. In general, the willingness has increased:All questions show a slight uptick except Continue reading
Read more →When it comes to the issue of financially incentivizing homeowners to install mitigation measures to reduce the potential impact of severe weather or an earthquake, it appears that much of the burden is placed squarely on the backs of insurers.…
Read more →A major complaint levelled against the insurance industry is that it has failed to provide coverage for consumers who, through no fault of their own, have seen their homes and belongings destroyed by flood. With the announcement by Co-operators that…
Read more →On May 8, ICLR unveiled its latest home retrofit project, this time in Windsor, Ontario. The home was retrofitted to reduce (we never say eliminate) the risk of basement flooding. Again, ICLR chose Emergency Preparedness Week (May 3 to 9)…
Read more →The National Building Code and the building codes of each province and territory in Canada are some of the best in the world, as are local building inspection practices. And Canadian homebuilders most certainly construct some of the best homes in the world.
But there is always room for improvement, and as severe weather gets fiercer and more pervasive, this need will only become more acute.
Read more →The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been the preeminent show for seeing, hearing and feeling what is emerging and hot in consumer electronics at the beginning of each year. It is the place to go to see new electronic games,…
Read more →Some are calling 2014 a quiet – even a ‘reprieve’ – year for Canadian catastrophe losses. But when you put the year’s $880+ million up against 2013’s $3.2 billion, of course it will look like a quiet year (even a…
Read more →On December 11, the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) rolled out its latest retrofit home to the media. The home in Burlington, Ontario was retrofitted to reduce the risk of basement flooding. ICLR chose Burlington because it was ground…
Read more →Consumer devices and products are more connected than ever before, from health and fitness monitors such as Fitbit to wearable technology such as the upcoming Apple Watch. The connected home is another technology trend, where sensors, smart appliances and even…
Read more →In the recently released decision of Equitable Trust Co. v. The Portage La Prairie Mutual Insurance Co., 2014onsc4767, Ontario Superior Court Justice Stewart affirmed the generally held view that an insured mortgagee is entitled to recover the outstanding balance owing…
Read more →On October 16, the CBC published an online article entitled ‘Severe weather increasing insurance deductibles.’ Just a few days later, a small media outlet reprinted the piece, but changed the headline to ‘Climate change increasing insurance deductibles.’ This change highlights…
Read more →On October 10, ICLR held a Friday Forum workshop entitled ‘National Riverine Floodplain Mapping Framework and Advancements in Urban Overland Flood Risk Assessment’, which largely looked at the state of flood mapping in Canada. The workshop was lead by Tim…
Read more →While groundwater figures prominently in riverine and urban flooding and is relatively easy to map, insurers, urban planners, governments and other key stakeholders seldom factor it in when considering flood risk. So says Dr. Cathy Ryan, a hydrogeologist with the…
Read more →It was raining in Oakville, but it was nothing worth writing home about, just a normal run-of-the-mill summer storm. But as soon as I crossed the boundary into Burlington, that changed. I was quite amazed at the experience: after a…
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