Search Results

Certificates of Insurance – a Quick Review The most common request we get for policyholder service is providing a certificate of insurance for a client. As either the certificate issuer or holder, here a few things to know about this important document. A certificate is a point in time document. The insurance shown on the certificate is in force as of the date of the certificate. While it shows an expiration date for the policies, there is no guarantee that the coverage is in place after the date of the certificate. If you are asking for a certificate, check the date on the document. If it is not a current date, ask for a new certificate to be sure coverage has not lapsed or changed. Check the limits of insurance shown on the certificate. The limits carried by the other party in a transaction should meet the requirements in the written agreement. Do not assume they will match. If you do not have a written agreement, you may not be able to transfer risk to the insurer. If you are providing the certificate, make sure your limits meet the requirements. Do not assume that your insurance policy will respond to the liabilities you are being asked to assume. Insurance policies may have exclusions or limitations that impact a given exposure. You should understand your coverage and the risk you are being asked to assume. Read before you sign! The certificate will identify the insurance carriers that are providing coverage. Some contracts will specify that the insurer must have a specific AM Best rating. There are two ratings typically specified, a Financial Strength Rating and a Financial Size Category Rating. The two links will take you to the AM Best site for details on these ratings. Do the carriers on the certificate meet these requirements? The risk transfer agreement may have additional insurance requirements beyond a certificate and additional insured status. If there are other provisions such as waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory, or specific policy forms and dates, be sure the certificate reflects those as well. Send us the contract language so we can be sure your policy responds. Certificates are issued to specific holders. If you are presented with a “sample” or “generic” certificate be sure to request one where you are the certificate holder. You may ask for notification from the other party’s insurer if the coverage lapses. In most cases the insurer will “endeavor” to provide that notice. If you have concerns that the other party may have an insurance lapse, you should plan on following up with the certificate issuer to get confirmation of coverage. In order for an insurer to provide notification, you must not only be a certificate holder but also be specifically added to the policy by endorsement granting additional insured status. We issue certificates every day and understand what is needed and how to structure your coverage to address these requirements. We can also help you interpret certificates you receive so you are confident of the coverage being described. Certificates of insurance play a key role in commerce and contractual risk transfer. We understand the process and can help you navigate the choices to be sure your insurance program protects what is important to you. The descriptions of insurance coverage are general in nature and are not a replacement for actual policy language. Call us at 513-977-6860 or visit our website at www.driehausins.com to learn more about us and to get in touch with us.

A prior posting, What is my Property Worth? focused on the different values that can be established for a piece of property. This was the starting point for your insurance decision making. The values you place on the policy are generally the limits of insurance for that location. Property, real and personal as well as business income have limits of insurance, the maximum the carrier will pay and valuation terms, how the loss will be adjusted. Let us examine the valuation terms that are typically on a commercial insurance policy. Replacement Cost – This is new for old coverage. The insurer will replace your property with goods or materials that are similar in kind and quality. The limit of insurance on your policy should reflect the replacement cost of the property you are insuring. For buildings with historic and unique architectural features, you need to consider these in setting the values. Actual Cash Value (ACV) – The insurer will replace the goods or provide funds that reflect the age and depreciation of the damaged goods or property. You will not get sufficient funds to replace the property but will get the depreciated value. The limit of insurance should reflect the depreciated values of your property. ACV can be a significant concern for partial losses, such as roof damage. With the ACV valuation, the payout is reduced to the depreciated value of the roof. The difference between the replacement cost & depreciated cost may leave you with a significant financial gap, placing stress on your budget to fully complete the work. Functional Replacement Cost – If you do not plan to replace the existing property with like kind and quality, you may need a different valuation. If the new building would be more expensive to build than your current building, functional replacement cost allows you to replace the damaged property with another product that has similar function but a different cost. This is often used when the original property is obsolete and would not be an efficient replacement. This gives you an option to insure for a higher value. The limit of insurance should reflect the cost of the desired functional replacement item. Given the inherent complexity of this valuation, some insurers are reluctant to extend these terms. Business income has two valuation terms – a specific limit or actual loss sustained. The limit that is chosen is a function of completing a business income worksheet to determine the allowable expenses and the period of restoration required to resume operations. This is worthy of its own discussion. The actual loss sustained language avoids the completion of the worksheet and allows recovery of losses for a policy defined period of restoration. Blanket or Location Specific? – If you have multiple locations on your insurance policy, the insurer can choose to have the values at each location stand alone or they can blanket the values and have the total limit for all locations under the blanket available for any loss. Blanket coverage will offset any valuation deficiencies that may occur and is a desired valuation term. It may come at additional cost as the insurer wants to protect their interests. The insurer needs to have confidence in the accuracy of the values you have provided. The Driehaus Difference There is a lot of thought and planning needed to select the right valuation terms and to determine if location specific valuation or blanket is needed for your program. There are different levels of data required for the various valuations and to have an insurer agree to offer blanket coverage. The descriptions of insurance coverage are general in nature and are not a replacement for actual policy language. We understand the process and can help you navigate the choices to be sure your insurance program protects what is important to you. Call us at 513-977-6860 or visit our website at www.driehausins.com to learn more about us and to get in touch with us.

We previously reviewed an overview of the Life Safety Code. This continues that discussion to focus on emergency lighting. Emergency lighting provides a minimum level of illumination for occupants of the building to find their way to the exit and to get out of the building. The performance and testing requirements are found in Chapter 7, Means of Egress, of NFPA 101. The triggers for installing emergency lighting are found on the occupancy chapters, 11 through 43. Emergency Lighting Performance The Life Safety Code has specific requirements for the performance of emergency lighting systems. The first requirement is that if the system depends on switching power sources, the maximum delay is 10 seconds. Battery operated units do not have this delay, it applies to emergency power supplies. The emergency lighting must be provided for 1 ½ hours duration. The duration is to allow an orderly evacuation or relocation of building occupants. Lighting levels are measured in foot- candles, a measure of lighting intensity or brightness. Lighting levels are specified as an average of 1 ft-candle and at any point the light level cannot be less than 0.1 ft-candle. – Compare this to the building code required average of 10 ft-candles for normal conditions. At the end of 1 ½ hours the average lighting level must be at least 0.6 ft-candles and not less than 0.06 ft-candles at any point. This accounts for battery drain. The maximum to minimum illumination ratio cannot exceed 40 to 1. This eliminates blinding effects of high intensity lighting sources. Emergency Lighting Testing Emergency lighting systems must be tested to prove they are reliable and will have adequate duration. The light levels were established at time of installation. If there have been changes to the egress paths or building layout, the testing should verify that design criteria are still met. The Life Safety Code allows three different test processes to be used. A functional hands-on test of the devices – monthly – The period between testing should be a minimum of 3 weeks and a maximum of 5 weeks. Monthly testing should be 30 seconds in duration. A functional test of 1 ½ hours should be done annually Self-testing and self-diagnostic equipment can be tested using the system every 30 days for a minimum of 30 seconds. An annual duration test of 1 ½ hours is required. The self-testing and diagnostic function must remain in service for the 1 ½ hour test. Computer based testing can be done every 30 days for a minimum of 30 seconds. An annual 1 ½ hour duration test is required, and the computer monitoring must remain operational for this 1 ½ hour period. Regardless of method, documentation of the testing is required. The Driehaus Difference Our experience is that emergency lighting is often not correctly installed, tested, or maintained. This can create a liability issue for the business owner. Driehaus Insurance Group has the risk management resources available to help you understand these questions. Call us at 513-977-6860 or contact us via our website www.driehausins.com

One constant in commerce today is the desire to shift liability to someone else. In the insurance business we call this risk transfer. The ultimate goal of a good risk transfer program is to place the liability on the party that creates or controls the circumstances that cause the claim. In a perfect world the responsible party would step up and accept the liability. In the real world a written provision in an agreement, contract, purchase order, or lease is where this transfer is accomplished. The first and most important concept to remember is “Read Before You Sign”. A major insurance firm estimated that 25% of their liability claims were the product of risk transfer. This is a business decision that deserves your attention. If you assume the liability of another party, you have the title of “indemnitor”. If you are receiving protection from a risk transfer you are the “indemnitee”. Knowing your role is critical to your being able to read and understand the agreement. The next issue to tackle is how much risk do you want to shift or how much lability you are willing to assume? Generally, the risk transfer agreements fall into three types. A Broad Form risk transfer seeks to transfer liability to another party for all liabilities including the sole negligence of the indemnitor. This broad form of risk transfer is not allowed in some jurisdictions. An Intermediate Form of risk transfer shares the liability for negligence that is joint in nature. You will agree to share responsibility for an event if both parties share some of the liability. A Limited Form of risk transfer states that each party retains its own liabilities and assumes liability for the actions of others only if the first party can directly control the actions of the other party. To know the terms, you must read the agreement. In general, you should assume that whatever party is drafting the agreement is asking for protection from the other party. So always beware of signing service agreements and contracts presented by others if you are the party paying for the services. If you are seeking to transfer risk, get your attorney involved to draft language that will be enforceable in your jurisdiction. The need for the contract language to pass legal muster is only important at time of a loss. You cannot not retroactively add language that was needed. Future articles will address the topics of insurance protection and certificates of insurance. Insurance policies do not not automatically follow what is agreed to in an executed contract. As an indemnitor, your policy can be endorsed to cover assumed risk, but there are some areas that can fall outside of what is insurable. This is why knowing what you are signing is a critical point. The descriptions of insurance coverage are general in nature and are not a replacement for actual policy language. Contact us for more information — Visit our website www.driehausins.com to learn about our products, services and people or call us at 513-977-6860.

Businesses are required by OSHA standards to have an emergency action plan. The emergency action plan requires that you have provisions for the following: Emergency reporting Evacuation procedures Procedures for employee who shut down critical equipment before evacuating Procedures to account for all employees after evacuation Procedures to be followed by employees performing rescue or medical duties. Identification of responsible parties for more information OSHA Subpart E states that if your facility complies with the Life Safety Code, it will be in compliance with the egress design and maintenance sections of the OSHA standards. It is a good idea for you to learn about the Life Safety Code and how to apply this to your business. Beyond OSHA, the Life Safety Code is used by many jurisdictions as part of their fire safety regulations and also used by groups that provide accreditation to facilities. Compliance with the Life Safety Code is a key component of Medicare and Medicaid facility regulation. The Life Safety Code (NFPA 101) is published by the National Fire Protection Association. It is available for review on the NFPA website, www.NFPA.org. It was initially published in 1912 and has been expanded since that time. This code addresses life safety from fire in 16 different occupancies. For 11 occupancies there are different requirements for new and existing buildings. Chapters 1 thru 6 — Definition, scope and administration information and how to use apply performance-based design. Codes use their own language. The definitions and occupancy descriptions are of particular importance in this code. Chapter 7 — Defines egress design, layout, lighting, marking and number and separation of exits. Chapter 8 — Covers passive life safety controls such as fire walls, smoke barriers and compartmentation. Chapter 9 — Defines protection requirements for building services and what standards apply to sprinklers, fire alarm systems and special hazard protection. Chapter 10 — Regulates the combustibility of and smoke developed index for contents and finishes. Chapter 11 — Has information for special structures such as high rise and air supported structures. Chapters 12 thru 43 — Detail with how to apply Chapters 7 though 11 to different occupancies. There are different requirements for new and existing buildings for most occupancies. New buildings and new spaces are professionally designed for life safety purposes. The challenge for many building owners is managing change during the building’s lifespan. Changes in floorplans, occupancy changes within building areas, or new tenants can trigger needing to review the life safety provisions for your business. You need to manage these changes to protect your employees. There are operating requirements such as crowd management for assembly occupancies and the need for fire drills in other occupancies that go beyond building construction and layout rules. The Driehaus Difference Driehaus Insurance Group has the risk management resources available to help you understand these questions. Call us at 513-977-6860 or contact us via our website www.driehausins.com

One of the most important decisions to be made concerning your property insurance is the values that you set for the insurance policy. This is a topic that creates a great deal of confusion and is challenging because some of the parties requiring insurance only require limits to protect their interests, not your interests. The question you need to ask yourself is straightforward. What amount of money do I expect to recover in event of a loss? The best place to begin is to define the most common valuations. Replacement Cost This is the cost to replace the property with like kind and quality, with no regard to depreciation. What would it cost to rebuild the building from scratch with new materials? This seems like an easy question to answer until you factor in issues such as historic trim, any restrictions on the building by local zoning or historic commissions or your desire to replicate certain architectural features that are hard to replace or replicate. Selling Price This is easy – what did you pay for the property? If the property is used to secure a loan, the lender may require insurance at a limit that equals their interest in the property. If you are getting a good deal on the property, the selling price may be less than the replacement cost. The lender’s interest is protected, but you may have a gap. Market Price Price of similar properties that are being sold to a willing buyer. Market price can be influenced by economic times, location, style of the property and other features that make the property easier or more difficult to sell. During an upswing in property prices, the market prices can be inflated by demand. Conversely in a period of lower demand, you may be able to buy a property for less than expected. Market price is more volatile than other valuations. Actual Cash Value This is the value of your property adjusted for depreciation. Age, condition and upkeep all factor into this value. There are two variables, the starting point of the valuation, and the amount of depreciation applied. To understand this process, you must know both variables. Reconstruction Cost This is a favorite of insurance companies. Since most property losses are partial losses, the cost to repair is matching new to old. If you have ever remodeled a room, you know that getting new cabinets to match up to existing walls and ceilings can be a time-consuming process. Many property insurers use this value as the default on the value estimators provided to their agents. What is the right number? What do you need to recover? Lower valuations may seem to save money on premiums, but if the amount you recover at time of loss is lessened by the valuation, it was probably not the best decision. We will continue this discussion in future posts regarding valuations clauses used in property insurance policies. The Driehaus Difference You are our customer. We want to understand your needs. If we and you both have a clear understanding of expectations, we can help you select the right values for your policy. This is not a process that can be done with an online chatbot or a scripted phone call. Reach out to us at 513-977-6860 or via www.driehausins.com to get a professional insurance consultation

One of the most common ways that a property can lose sprinkler credits from insurance rating services is failure to perform routine testing. The most evident test result used by many rating services is a 2-inch drain test. What is this test and why is it so important? The 2-inch drain or main drain test is used to evaluate the condition of the water supply for the sprinklers system. By imposing a high flow rate on the supply, you can measure the pressure drop and the time to recover the pressure. A slow recovery or a large pressure drop may indicate an impairment or fundamental change to the water supply. The Main Drain Test is Conducted by: First checking to see that the discharge of water will not cause damage. Look for loose soil, adjacent vehicles, or pedestrians. If the sprinkler system is connected to an alarm service or panel, make sure to alert the service that you are doing testing. Be prepared to silence any alarms on premises. Record the starting pressure (static) from the lower water supply pressure gauge on the riser. Open the main drain slowly and completely. Let the pressure on the lowest gauge stabilize and record that pressure (residual). Slowly close the main drain valve. The pressure should recover to a value close to the original pressure quickly. A valuable way to measure system health is to compare drain tests results across time. A gradual decrease in static or residual pressures may indicate that the water supply is being reduced by other demands. This can be an important consideration in area experiencing significant development. A change of 10% in residual pressure from prior tests should warrant and investigation. A slow recovery of water pressure may indicate an impairment to the water supply. You should check all valves between the city supply and the riser in question to see that all valves are wide open. A partially closed valve may allow sufficient water for domestic purposes, but not allow flow needed for the fire sprinklers. An extremely low residual pressure may also indicate an impaired water supply. You may need to involve the water district or city to investigate valves off of your premises. A 4-story hotel had a residual pressure of 14 psi. Insufficient water pressure to get water to the top floor of the building. The city identified a valve down the street that was over 80% closed was the culprit. Our questioning the test results led to this impairment being resolved. Drain tests were formerly done quarterly. The codes have changed to require an annual test. If the risers are downstream from a backflow preventer or pressure reduction valve, the frequency should be quarterly, and tested after any time system valves are closed. The Driehaus Difference We have the risk management experience and knowledge to help you understand fire protection system maintenance, testing and inspections. We can work with insurance companies and rating bureaus to assure you get the credits you deserve. Call us at 513-977-6860 or reach out to us via our website www.driehausins.com

The National Council of Compensation Insurance (NCCI) calculates the Experience Modification Rate (EMR) that is used in pricing your Workers Compensation insurance coverage. The EMR is a calculated value that adjusts your premiums by factoring in the experience of your workers compensation program. The neutral value is 1.0. If your experience is below the average for your class of business, the EMR will rise above 1.0 and that debit factor will be applied to your premium. If your experience is better than average, you will get an EMR less than 1.0 and that will apply a credit to your workers compensation premium. Who uses this? The EMR is used by the insurance carriers as part of their pricing and risk selection process. Another use of the EMR is by firms and individuals soliciting bids for services. Some have determined that an EMR over 1.0 is an adverse indicator of safety and will not accept bids from those companies. While NCCI has published articles that discourage this practice, it is still used by many people as a ”third party” indicator. How is this number created? The EMR uses three years of data and does not use the most current full year data. So, it is a lagging indicator of your experience. The number is based on the class codes used to report your payroll to the insurer and the payroll associated with those codes. Each class code has a unique expected loss rate, and this factor generates the amount of loss dollars used in calculations. The expected loss dollars are compared to the actual losses that were reported to NCCI by the insurance carrier. Losses are adjusted based on several factors. There is a state specific cap on loss size to blunt the impact of any single severe loss. In most states this is $250,000. The loss is then split into two layers. The primary layer is all dollars up to $17,500 and the balance is considered an excess loss. This function separates risks with frequent small claims from a risk with a single large claim. Losses can be further adjusted if they are medical only claims, no lost time payments were made. In this case, the amount of the loss is reduced by 70% The reduction is applied to both the primary and excess loss layers. After applying statistical factors to normalize the numbers, a ratio of expected to incurred losses is determined and your EMR emerges. This simplifies a complex series of calculations but conveys the basics of the process. The Driehaus Difference We understand this unique process and can help you develop strategies to manage your EMR. Our risk management skills can help you control costs and have the EMR that accurately reflects your experience. Call us at 513-977-6860 or visit our website www.driehausins.com to review our products and services and to contact us.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) uses seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories—BASIC—to determine a motor carrier’s safety performance and compliance relative to other carriers. Five BASICs are publicly available online in the Safety Measurement System (SMS). Crash Indicator and Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance are only available to motor carriers that log into their own safety profile, or enforcement personnel. Unsafe Driving The Unsafe Driving BASIC prioritizes interventions for repeated unsafe behaviors, including: texting, speeding, using a hand-held cell phone, reckless driving, improper lane change, inattention. Crash Indicator State-reported crashes from the last two years are collected in this BASIC to help identify patterns of high crash involvement and the behavior or set of behaviors that contributed to the crash. The Crash Indicator BASIC is not public. It is only available to a motor carrier that is logged into its own safety profile, or to enforcement personnel Hours-of-Service (HOS) Compliance This BASIC addresses requirements for all large truck and bus drivers to ensure that they are alert, awake, and able to respond quickly. Vehicle Maintenance This BASIC considers proper vehicle maintenance to help ensure safety on the road, including pre- and post-trip inspections, vehicle defects, and repairs. Controlled Substances/Alcohol This BASIC addresses misuse of alcohol, illegal drugs, and over the counter and prescription medications that impair driving abilities and endanger everyone's safety on the road. Having containers of alcoholic beverages in Commercial Motor Vehicle cabs, whether open or not, is a violation. Hazardous Materials (HM) Compliance This BASIC includes regulations that require special attention, from how to properly package, mark, label, placard, and load HM, to understanding regulations for tank specification testing, loading/unloading, attendance, and leakage. The HM Compliance BASIC is not public. It is only available to a motor carrier that is logged into its own safety profile or to enforcement personnel. Driver Fitness This BASIC addresses driving records. Motor carriers are responsible for ensuring driver qualification files are complete and current. Required files for each and every driver include commercial drivers' licenses (CDLs), medical certificates, State driving records, annual reviews of driving records, and employment applications. Company Impact The BASICs organize data from roadside inspections, including driver and vehicle violations, crash reports from the last two years, and investigation results. Violations affect your company’s SMS results for two years and may prioritize your company for an FMCSA intervention, ranging from warning letters to full onsite investigation that could result in an Out-of-Service Order (OOSO) or a change to your company’s safety rating. Data Quality You should review the violations shown and verify the accuracy of this data. If incorrect data is present, you may use the DataQ system to contest the information. The calculation process places your firm into Safety Event Group with similar numbers of safety events. There is also segmentation based on the type of vehicles in your fleet. This data comes from the MCS 150 form that you submit. Incorrect data on this form can impact your BASIC scores. Driver Impacts Your safety performance and compliance impact your employer’s safety records—and your own. With driver consent, carriers can use FMCSA’s Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) as a preemployment screening tool to see a driver’s five-year crash and three-year inspection history. Insurance Impacts BASIC scores have become a standard part of underwriting auto insurance for motor carriers. Poor BASIC scores can have adverse impacts on risk selection and pricing decisions by insurance companies. The Driehaus Difference You need someone who can help you interpret and monitor your results. If your carrier uses Central Analysis Bureau reports, we can ask for scheduled updates to manage this data and review it with you for quality. We understand the process and the data that goes into these scores. Call us at 513-977-6860 or contact us via our website at www.driehausins.com

Driving safely is a full-time job. Yet many believe the car is another place to do business, return calls and answer texts and questions. When we take attention away from driving, we increase our risk of a crash. Distraction falls into three distinct categories – each category of distraction alone is a hazard. Some activities have multiple categories of distraction. Hands – This is when you are manually using your hands to adjust controls on the radio, comfort system, reaching for an item or manipulating a device. Your hands are not on the wheel and often your attention is now directed at the manual task. Eyes – This is when you take your eyes off the road. It can be looking at a passenger, a navigation device, reading a text or looking for something inside the or outside of the vehicle. Your eyes are not focused on the road ahead and you are at risk of a crash. Looking away to read a text message or e mail is a high-risk behavior. Mind – you take your mind off driving to focus on another subject. Cognitive distractions can be your talking on your cell phone, processing the discussion at your last meeting, talking to your passengers, or daydreaming about your vacation. Your mind is not focused on safe driving. Texting involves all three types of distractions. You are manipulating the device, looking away to read and processing the message and your response. This is a crash waiting to happen. More states are making texting while driving a primary traffic violation. You do not have to violate any other traffic laws to be cited for texting while driving. Here is a short video you can share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6uepXw9gZA#action=share What you should do: Everyone can make the choice to use do not disturb feature on their phone. You can decide to adjust music and entertainment systems when stopped. Ask your passengers not include you in discussions or other exchanges that would take your mind or eyes off the road. Avoid eating and drinking while driving. You make the choice to focus on safe driving. Employers should have a company policy that cell phone use and texting during vehicle operation is not permitted. If you have drivers of commercial motor vehicles, these restrictions are part of the DOT regulations.

Ice dams are most common in cold climates. They occur when heavy snow buildup melts during the day and then refreezes when temperatures drop overnight. After several days of melting-freezing cycles, it is common for the melted water and ice to work up under the shingles until water enters the attic and eventually does damage to the ceilings, walls, and contents. The graphic below shows an ice dam on a roof. In cases where the ice dam goes unnoticed for an extended period of time, it can do significant damage to the building and its contents. There is no way to guarantee an ice dam will not damage your home, but you can take the following steps to cut the chances of an ice dam forming in the first place: Thoroughly clean all leaves, sticks and other debris from your home's gutters and down spouts. This allows melting roof snow to flow into gutters and through down spouts. Make every effort to keep snow on your roof to a minimum. Long-handled devices on the market called "roof rakes" let you stand on the ground and pull the snow off the roof. Keeping heavy snow loads off of your roof reduces the chances for both ice dam formation and roof failure due to the weight. All winter long, keep gutters and down spouts clear of snow and icicles. Evaluate the insulation and ventilation in your attic. Consult the Building Code for minimum R values (R value is a numerical indicator of insulation effectiveness , the higher the number the more insulating value) for your location. Good airflow from under the eaves or soffit area along the underside of the roof and out through the roof vents is essential. The insulation prevents heat loss from the interior of the home. The venting allows the attic air to stay cold enough to prevent or minimize the freeze/thaw cycle on the roof. Consult a reputable roofing and/or insulation contractor about these improvements. If replacing your roof, make sure that ice and water shield is used along the edges and at least 48 inches up from the edge of the roof. Code minimum is 24 inches, but the extra width is nominal in cost for the protection it provides.

Smoke detectors entered the codes in 1971. Smoke alarms were to be installed on the main floor of the residence. In the early 1980’s some fire department went door to door installing smoke alarms. The use of detectors went up significantly in the 1980s and the fire death rate in home reflected this change. Data from Trends and Patterns of U.S Fire Loss – January 2017, Marty Ahrens, National Fire Protection Association In 1993, the code required that smoke alarms be installed inside bedrooms and outside the bedroom area of the home. A significant addition to the protection provided. In 1995, the 10-year battery was introduced. This eliminated the missing or dead battery scenario that has been a major factor in smoke alarm performance. In 2002, codes required that smoke alarms be replaced after 10 years of service. This recognized that the sensors in smoke alarms were subject to age and loss of sensitivity. During the period of 1971 to today there has been another shift in the fire safety picture. The change in the fuel package present in homes. Underwriters Laboratories conducted fire tests of “legacy” furnishings from 25 years ago and modern furnishings. The results were dramatic. Modern furnishings had fire growth that created a fatal environment in 3 minutes. The older materials would take over 25 minutes to reach this same level of fire involvement. You can watch the fire test here. https://youtu.be/LsReYgKpHbE During 2019 the NFPA reported 75% of fire deaths and 73% of fire injuries were in home fires. The danger is real and the hazard is more aggressive. Have you updated your home’s smoke alarms? Added additional detectors to the bedrooms? Replaced smoke alarms over ten years old? Do you have a home escape plan? With the reduced time to escape a fire, you need to stack the deck in your favor. Updating your smoke alarms and fire safety plan is a great way to do this. We encourage you to update your protection. If we can assist you in any way, please reach out to us at 513-977-6860 or contact us at www.driehausins.com We protect what you love…