The insurance industry can be pretty hard to understand. Yet consultant
Cathy O'Neil can easily sum up what a risk inspector does.
"You are the underwriter's eyes," she says. Her job is to do inspections
that will help the underwriter make decisions. She has to check for all kinds
of risks, including fire hazards, crime risks and financial liabilities. She
makes recommendations on how businesses can reduce their risk of having to
file for insurance by improving upon things like safety features.
"What you have to find out is what is norm for the risk," she says. This
means checking things like whether a building meets fire code regulations.
She may check roof and floor construction, heating and sprinkler systems,
and the use and storage of combustible and flammable liquids.
For example, many florist shops have helium containers for balloons. O'Neil
says helium can act as a "mini-torpedo," and could blow a large hole in a
building or take off someone's legs. The florist would need to store the helium
properly to be eligible for insurance in case of fire.
Or O'Neil may check an automotive shop where spray paint is used. In the
working room, there needs to be a side-draft or downdraft exhaust system,
to clear the air of any debris. An interlocking system ensures an exhaust
fan comes on automatically when the spray paint is in use.
If she were to do an inspection at an automotive shop, she could recommend
an interlocking system be put in place to reduce the fire hazard. She might
ask the underwriter to put a warranty on file. This would mean the exhaust
fan would have to be on at all times when spray paint was being used. If a
fire started when the fan wasn't on, the shop's claim would be null and void.
O'Neil says she can pat herself on the back when the company can get out
of a claim because of a recommendation she has made. Making recommendations
to prevent the problem in the first place is a big part of her job. And this,
in part, is why she quit her job as a claims adjuster to go into inspection.
"I wanted to be around people more, and be able to prevent claims instead
of paying for claims," she says.
O'Neil also looks at something called "moral hazards" when inspecting a
building. She explains that if there were five pizza places on one corner,
she might drive by at about 5 p.m. to see how business is doing. There may
be one rundown restaurant, two established restaurants and two fairly new
restaurants. If she happens to notice that the rundown restaurant has no cars
in the parking lot, where the other ones have many, this might raise her suspicions.
"You know that you have a moral hazard, and a good indicator for arson,"
she says. The next step might be to check if the company is having financial
problems. "Is the person going to end up flicking your Bic, if you know what
I mean," she explains.
Moral hazards, building construction, industrial hazards and liability
are all things O'Neil had to learn about for this career. "You have to know
your stuff."
She suggests anyone interested in a career as an inspector work towards
getting an education in building construction, fire protection and insurance.
She says the courses can be boring and hard, but lead to a rewarding career.
The career is certainly not without some excitement.
Don Lopes has been knocked flat on his back testing a fire hydrant, covered
in soot, rust and water while testing a building's sprinkler system, and even
kicked out of a building by an irate manager.
It's all in a day's work.
"I've been doing this for nine years and I really enjoy it," says Lopes,
an inspector. "I graduated...with a degree in structural engineering. I did
that for awhile, but I found it kind of boring."
Lopes was playing golf with a friend one day when his companion happened
to mention a job opening for an inspector at the insurance company where he
worked. Lopes decided to check it out and ended up getting the job. He says
he has never regretted his career move.
"Now I get to work with people a lot more. I have more freedom and the
job's really interesting," he says.
Lopes is responsible for inspecting buildings that his company is insuring.
Some of them are finished, some are still under construction.
The SkyDome in Toronto, Canada, is just one of the buildings Lopes has
inspected. When it was being constructed, Lopes checked in almost every day,
making sure things were being done properly.
"Initially, the engineers treated me like I didn't know what I was talking
about, because I was the insurance guy," says Lopes. "But it didn't take long
before they realized I knew my stuff."
Being an inspector carries a lot of responsibility, says Lopes.
"We recommend certain safeguards -- shut-off switches, that kind of stuff
-- or we can tell them not to smoke in a certain area," he says.
In addition to making these recommendations, inspectors have to be able
to explain technical problems to clients, company presidents, underwriters
and employees.
"We have to sit down with people and tell them what needs improving," says
Lopes. "Our biggest responsibility is making the recommendations -- making
sure we know what we're talking about and being firm about it.
"Your communication skills have to be good because you have to sell them
on making these changes."
Even when an inspector has done a completely thorough job, however, it's
still no guarantee that nothing will go wrong.
Lopes recalls a case where he inspected a plastics plant. He gave the plant
a great report.
"Everything looked fine. It was a brand new building," he
says.
A month after his inspection, the building blew up and burned to the ground.
An employee had heated a drum improperly and it exploded.
Events like this are impossible for an inspector to predict, says Lopes.
"We can inspect the building all we want, but we can't control the actual
procedures that take place."
Aside from technical know-how and good communication skills, an insurance
inspector needs to have flexibility. On any given day, says Lopes, he's not
really sure where he'll be going and what sort of job he'll be inspecting.
But this is part of what he likes about his career.
"It's such a diverse job," says Lopes, "and most people are really good.
I could probably count on one hand the number of times in the last nine years
of working here that I've been given a hard time."
Kendra Bradley is a self-employed inspector. "I really don't know how I
got into this field. It just sort of happened."
Bradley, who has an engineering diploma, left the corporate world to become
self-employed after gaining a few years of experience. She has no regrets.
"I really enjoy what I do. I work the hours I want to work and I get paid
well to do it."