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The recent spate of construction site accidents in New York City in the past several months couldn’t have come at a worse time.
There were two crane collapses in March 2012 that killed seven workers in Midtown Manhattan. On November 8, 2011, a fatal structural collapse occurred in Brooklyn. The contractor was erecting a multi-story building when the front bays of the third, fourth and fifth floors collapsed.
The NYC insurance construction market had already been “hardening” dramatically before these accidents happened. We saw premium increases last year for NYC construction risks ranging anywhere from 25% to 50%. Recent premium increases have been reported as high as 100% to 200% of previous years’ premiums.
These higher insurance costs are eroding the profitability of projects for building owners and can now be as high as 8 to 10% of the total project cost. It is more important than ever that the project owner have an independent advisor on their side in dealing with difficult risk financing issues and overseeing the safety and claims management services being provided by brokers, insurers and TPA’s.
The ALS Group is an independent insurance and risk management consultant that has extensive experience in handling the insurance programs for a wide range of construction projects. We design and orchestrate the bidding process of any insurance coverage needed for the project through the selection of brokers, preparation of coverage specifications and analysis of quotations.
In addition to focusing on the risk financing issues, we will lower the project owners Total Cost of Risk (TCoR) through effective use of loss prevention, aggressive claims management and contractual risk transfer to ensure the downstream transfer of liability away from the project owner.
Please call Albert Sica at 732-395-4251 or via email at asica@thealsgroup.com to learn more on how The ALS Group can help you lower your project costs.