The NEW YEAR started with me doing a training seminar at Seton Hall. Paul McGrath of City Fire invited me to speak at their 25th Fire Facts Seminar and it was awesome. I had so much fun, jumping around on a huge stage talking about building codes, standards, firestop and passive fire protection. Those of you who have been in my classes know what a dork I am, and how much I love it!
At lunch I sat with a few guys. One who had been in one of my previous classes. Like most of us, he wears many hats. One is arson investigator.
During lunch our discussion bounced to raising kids with integrity and teaching them to be accountable for their actions. We talked about how, if there are no consequences to the kids negative behavior, then the behavior won’t change. I confessed to having stolen a candy bar when I was a kid and told of how my mother made me take it back into the store, give it back to the lady, apologize and tell her why it was wrong. One of the guys had done the same thing with his young son and a pack of gum.
I was struck by the fact that there was a direct connect to this parenting move and the way I was hearing the insurance company is currently handling fire cases. As a parent, there has to be consequences to a child’s behavior; positive consequences to positive behavior and negative consequences to negative behavior. What I was hearing at lunch was making it clear that the insurance industry needed help learning how to hold contractors and building owners accountable.
Rather than put in the legwork to identify construction that did not conform to the codes, the insurance companies just paid out the claims. This means that the contractor, who didn’t do the job right and created a scenario where a fire was allowed to propogate, or even started due to non-code-conformant installations, has no negative consequences for bad installations. This is only letting people off the hook.
Now, I will be the first to tell you, I don’t know a great deal about insurance! I will also tell you that I do not want to offend anyone with this post. What I do want to accomplish with this is to:
1) raise awareness
2) start a conversation
3) be a catalyst for positive change in the industry
We all know what it typically takes for people to sit up and take notice. DEATH or massive loss always gets people’s attention. Then the masses cry, “How could this happen?”
Trying to initiate change before you have everyone’s attention is not the easy route, but I would like to do just that before it comes to something tragic and I am asking for help from the Linked In community.
What ideas do you have regarding how we can have a positive impact that will help insurance companies be able to hold contractors accountable. I know a few years ago there was a case where a building owner did not maintain their sprinkler system and the insurance company did not have to pay out. That old post can be found here.
If you have any ideas of how to help or if you can answer any of these questions please shoot me an quick note (or a long one if you prefer). Your help may be the catalyst to the positive change we all need to see.
What events/trade shows/conferences would be interested in hearing more about this?
Do you have any contacts who could help with this agenda?
Do you have any ideas or data that would be useful in initiating this change?
As always, thank you all for reading this diatribe. Keep Learning! Do better every day and on the days you don’t; just remember there is tomorrow and take advantage of that when the day arrives.