Engineering Inc. - January/February 2007 - 23

Warning : session_start : The session id contains invalid characters,
valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in
/mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning :
session_start : Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent
output started at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in
/mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 9 Warning :
Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by output started
at /mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php:9 in
/mnt/data/www.nxtbook.com/fx/config_1.3/global.php on line 10 I t’s a
great time to be buying insurance. Lorna Parsons cna/schinnerer Lorna
Parsons, managing director of CNA/Schinnerer, agrees: “It’s a great
time to be buying insurance,” she says. Eve n on the hurricane-ravaged
Gulf Coast, firm claims were flat. The exceptions, according to Wyatt
Sanders, president of Baton Rouge, La.–based Alexander & Sanders
Insurance Agency, were for the high-profile, class action suits over
breached levees and the Superdome’s roof collapse. He predicts claims in
the region may spike when builders and insurers pay out and look for ways
to subrogate their losses. But Sanders, who also is president of the
Professional Liability Agents Network PLAN , noted that flat claims
coupled with an influx of capital from the catastrophe to the casualty
market make PLI one of the few types of insurance in the region that has
not become more expensive. Sanders urges A/E firms to “enjoy the lull in
pricing,” as he expects carriers to begin fighting for higher rates over
the next few years. “Percentage-wise, we’re 15–20 percent below what
the average has been over the past 25 years,” he says. While that is good
news today, Sanders expects those rates eventually will “creep back up”
toward the historical average. Fa r r a r says carriers did report claim
spikes in specific sectors, including col- l e g e s and universities,
mechanical and HVAC. The severity of surveying claims also is up. A
disproportionate number of claims, however, continue to be filed in the
housing sector, with condominiums leading the way. But custom homes were
cited as a problem area for the first time this year, he says. Tom Bongi,
director of industry relations at XL Design Professional in Danville,
Calif., sees claims arising out of the same problems that have been around
for years: inadequate contracts or putting inexperienced people on a
project. Parsons added that those issues are emerging in newer sectors,
such as “sustainable” buildings or “green design.” She warns
engineers to be especially careful about making promises regarding energy
or water savings based on materials and systems, noting that many factors
determine whether those savings actually materialize. “If they don’t,
you get sued,” she says. Each carrier surveyed said they provide some
form of risk management service to clients, allowing firms to take an
active role in minimizing their costs. CNA/Schinnerer for example, now
provides a credit against insurance premiums to firms that adopt certain
risk management practices, including a peer review before a project is put
out for bid, sticking to project schedules, adopting payment plans and, if
payment is being withheld, immediately finding out why. Future Issues of a
new building. Farrar says BIM has not shown up in any claims yet. But
carriers are watching closely because the new system has some legal
uncertainties, such as who owns the model and who will be responsible for
the data it generates. Bongi calls BIM “cutting-edge or even
bleeding-edge technology” whose liability impact remains to be seen. He
suggests the issue in the future will instead become whether the
technology is “driving more claims than there would have been if the
project was done under a different process.” While there is no
historical data on BIM to help predict the future, in the longrun Bongi
believes it will be “a liabilityreducing leap forward,” even if issues
need to be worked through in the short run. Survey results also show that
carriers remain concerned about the small numbers of graduating engineers,
which can lead to less qualified staff and, in turn, more claims. As a
result, Sanders sees younger engineers shouldering greater responsibility
earlier in their careers as they are “thrust up the ladder rather than
being able to climb at their own pace.” He counsels firms continued on
page 25 B uilding Information Modeling will be a liability-reducing leap
forward. toM Bongi xl design professional Looking ahead, Farrar says
insurers are becoming concerned about the downturn in the U.S. housing
market. Developers feeling squeezed could look harder for deep pockets and
file more aggressive claims, he says, while firms turning from residential
construction to other types of projects may face more claims in areas
where they have less expertise. Ad va n c i n g technology also is
injecting some uncertainty as firms increasingly turn to Building
Information Modeling BIM , considered the next generation of
computer-aided design that allows threedimensional modeling of every
component JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2007 ENGINEERING INC. 23 Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid
characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning :
Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the
current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in
Unknown on line 0

Engineering Inc. - January/February 2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - January/February 2007