Hello, and welcome to today's webinar titled Builder's Risk Guide to Loss Prevention. I'm Lillian Colson, and I'm pleased to introduce today's webinar. Please be aware of the IMUA statement. It's my pleasure to introduce today's presenters. Cord Spielman is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and earned an MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University, as well as earning his ARM designation. He is a member of the IMUA Loss Control and Claims Committee and has contributed to many papers and projects in that role. In addition, Cord also presented with the AIMU Technical Services Committee at Marine Insurance Day in 2013 on docks and piers construction, based on the committee's white paper. Cord is always high energy, entertaining, and informative, all while being very willing to share his many years of experience and expertise. Julio Carrillo is a fire protection specialist and a property subject matter expert at Nationwide Insurance with over 30 years of loss control experience. He retired from the United States Air Force after serving 25 years in active duty and reserve. Julio is also a member of the IMUA Loss Control and Claims Committee and has contributed to several papers and projects in that capacity. Julio's hobbies include photography and travel. He studied art in Spain and spent time as a ski instructor and is a member of the Professional Ski Instructor Association. He enjoys spending time skiing with his family and friends and watching New York City soccer club matches. In his spare time, Julio coaches sports, including skiing, baseball, and soccer, as well as presenting webinars on behalf of IMUA. Gentlemen, the floor is all yours. Thank you very much, and hi. This is Cord Spielman, and welcome to Builders Risk Loss Control. As we move forward here with the outline, what we'd like to do is kind of first set the stage concerning how to prepare for Builders Risk Review and, you know, specific subjects that we need to cover. As you can see, there are four different exposures that apply to all Builders Risk projects, that being fire, wind, water, and crime. Additionally, we will provide you with some of the best practices to prevent these different exposures from becoming losses in our summary checklist and, of course, provide time for your questions. So if we will, let's go ahead and jump in and get moving forward. If you're now ready, what we'll do is we'll start with a quick introduction and then dive into the subject of project management. Our purpose, pretty much to provide best practices when assessing and understanding Builders Risk exposures. Our goals are shown above, basically excellent project management and property preservation. Our goals are as shown, and we will be looking at the four exposures and how each one of those exposures can be controlled to prevent loss. The IMUA Loss Control and Claims Committee has created your review on the IMUA website, and I would highly suggest that you take a look at that after the presentation. Excuse me. So what is project management? Well, whether any Builders Risk project is considered complex or the project is kind of a simple installation, there's always a need for excellent project management. Really the essence of excellent project management covers many different subjects, but it's primarily how different entities completing different project tasks are interwoven together to complete the job in a loss-free environment. Consider if you will that excellent project management is kind of like an orchestra. Without the music and the maestro, the music we would be hearing would be poorly timed and the resulting sound anything but pleasing to our ears. Like the orchestra, once everyone has an understanding of the music and how the actual instruments will blend together with each other, we then can experience that symphonic music. Really the same applies to any Builders Risk project. So what is it? It's an oversight environment of relationships, contracts, controls, and plans to prevent loss. So when does it start? When the first shovel of earth is turned. Who are the game players? All those with any financial or construction involvement in the project. And why is it so important? It supports a quality build with no loss to employees, outside people, or the property we're building. So what's the how-to on project management? It all ties together as a living plan that changes daily based on the environment of the work area. Remember that as you're looking at a Builders Risk project, whether complex or simple, that each day is different. The environment is different, the workers can be different, and everything else. Understanding that a Builders Risk is a living organism subject to change as it evolves is something very important in order to understand good project management, the relationships, and safety in everything. Okay, so everybody always looks for a definition, and here's the definition of project management. Essential entity that is charged with the daily planning and review of activities that will be completed by a number of entities at the site. Basically that's going to be the general contractor or the contractor in charge of the site. In addition, the essential entity or general contractor becomes a communication arm to all their outside interests in the project, whether they be the owner, government, or general public. So basically, they're the folks in charge. Now we're going to move on to the second module which deals with fire and my good friend Julio will be able to talk to you about this. Julio take it away. Thank you Cord. Eileen thank you for the nice introduction. As Cord said I'll be discussing fire and water hazards. Through this presentation remember that these hazards are covered extensively and in-depth in the IMUA's Builder's Risk Guide to Loss Prevention. This guide was put together for by experts in the insurance and construction industry and the IMUA website offers this guide as well as other resources and in Lemurine underwriting and loss control. As a nationwide loss control services consultant I often find myself reviewing these resources to help our insured members. This guide compiles information from various sources including by the way these are reputable sources including the NFPA 241 standard for safeguarding construction alteration demolition operations and NFPA 51B that's a standard for fire prevention welding cutting and other hot work. As Cord covered in his project management talk it's recommended that there should be a job site specific written loss control program. The program should be formal. Our committee agreed on the importance of project management so strongly that we developed an entire module to it. A written safety program should include measures taken to help prevent property loss hazards during demolitions and construction operations. I'm often asked when is the best time to conduct a loss control visit to a builder's risk job site. My answer is almost always not soon enough or as soon as possible even before the work starts. For a loss control professional the pre-job meeting with management can help gauge what can be expected once the work starts. So in the next couple of slides the benefits of pre-planning will become obvious to you as I cover controls of fire and water hazards at job sites. What we see here is a Gantt chart on the left side of this slide. These bar charts illustrate construction schedules. Having these show good planning on the part of management but most importantly above all can help anticipate the hazards associated with the operations that will take place. For instance if wood framing starts on a certain date we can agree that the fire load will be increased at such time. Steel work, plumbing, roofing, mechanical contracting dates show when we're likely to see combustibles and not work on soldering or welding. And as with all schedules these are subject to change and should be reviewed periodically. In the center what you see here is a site plan. Site plans are excellent pre-job assessment tools and I expand on these further in my discussion of fire and water exposures. Did you want to do that? Julio do you want to do that that poll? Okay perfect. All right there you go. What are the benefits of Gantt charts or schedules for loss control? Please pick one. Tell me when you want me to broadcast the results. It's still going. Perfect, I think we can do that now. There we go. So as you can see, this is why I anticipated. The Gantt charts anticipate the hazards expected during the operations. I can see that everyone was paying attention to that. Very good. Approximately 80% of everyone here chose number one. There were a couple that highlighted demonstrating experience of project management. That's also true. But the overwhelming majority went for anticipating hazards on expected operations. Very good all. Okay. So for the purpose of this presentation, let's talk a little bit about exposures. And by exposures, we mean what's outside our project or our building. What are the adjacent or adjoining exposures to our building? Is there anything going on outside of the project that can be hazardous? Consider the type of neighboring structures, including buildings that can collapse or spread fire to our project. Are there any firewalls between the buildings? A review of the site plan before the job starts can give you a good top-down view of the exterior exposures to your project. Exposures can create barriers or obstructions that could delay fire department response or access to sprinkler systems or standpipe systems. And planning for this possibility can improve fire department access to fire department connections for dry standpipe systems. Dry standpipe systems, by the way, require multi-floor projects. So in this picture, this is a job site that I drove by. Not one of ours, thank goodness. It's in a large city in a narrow one-way street. What do you think would happen should the framed red building burn or collapse near our job site? Look at this from a fire department response standpoint. If this building collapses, it would block off the traffic in this narrow street. Fire department access would be next to impossible, putting the job site in peril from fire. If this red building burns, it would expose the job site to the spread of fire. On this next slide, we take a closer look at what's holding up that red building. You can see how the entire front of the red building is supported from collapse and the chances of collapse are a real possibility. I don't think that we can talk about fire hazards without talking about cutting, welding, and brazing operations. By the way, this topic is also covered extensively in the IMUA Builder's Risk document. The IMUA construction companies and insurance companies, including Nationwide, have developed extensive literature on this topic. We could dedicate an entire morning to the topic of hot work, but for the purpose of this presentation, I would like to go over just a couple of important points. The introduction of hot work into a job site increases the fire loss potential and is one of the major causes of large property loss in builder's risk insurance. A project should have a written hot work permit plan and it should be developed in the pre-planning stages. Some municipalities such as New York City require the contractors go through a fitness certification program that includes training, a permit system, pre- and post-hot work inspections, and communication procedures with fire departments. Hot work programs include the posting of a fire watch person to observe and stand by over the hot work technician. All the elements of hot work programs are important. Pre-work inspections help identify hazards and ensure that the hot work area is clear of debris before starting. They help ensure that there are fire extinguishers in place and that everyone involved is ready in the event of a fire. Pre-work inspections help ensure that at least 35 foot of clearance from combustible materials will be maintained. Post-work inspections and a fire watch will be maintained for at least half an hour after the work is done to help ensure that there's no chance of fire reigniting after the hot work has been removed. The permit systems help ensure that supervisors and competent personnel have approved the hot work. To the right, we see a fire watch observer. Please note that he has a good view of the entire process and is ready to assist in the extinguisher fire rather quickly. In the adjacent picture, we see a tag confirming a permit system. With this tag, we can verify that the area has been surveyed by a competent person and key controls are in place to permit the welding. Before continuing to the other hazards, a couple of points regarding hot work. A fire watch person must always be ready for the unexpected and most importantly have the authority to stop the work if needed. Two, that person must have the means to communicate including cell phones, iPhones, radios. And three, that person should know what the emergency contacts are including have 911 ready on a speed dial. Let's move on to other fire hazards at job sites. Flammables and combustibles are essential to power equipment, maintain heat, and of course, hot work. In these pictures, you can see the satisfactory means of storing flammables including a UFM listed flammable storage locker and in the center, we see a metal ULFM listed five gallon container of gasoline. On the right, gas bottles have been carefully braced from tipping over. Storage should be in designated areas, shaded in a way and well ventilated areas away from the building. There should be no smoking signs posted as well. Fire bottles and fire materials and flammable combustible materials should have fire rated barriers and caps and secure to prevent toppling. On the other hand, these pictures show improper storage of flammable liquids and gases. Improper storage increases the fire loss potential at job sites. So in these pictures, you can see a flammable gas storage room. Unfortunately, various gases are being stored near each other and the upright tanks are not secure from tipping over. The room does not meet NFPA standards for storage of flammables or combustibles. It's substandard. It should be corrected. Next to that is a picture of a gang box with various materials including an acetylene bottle, a fire extinguisher, and battery power hand tools. This gang box has ignition sources as well as fuel to burn or even explode. I think you'll agree with me on that. In the next slide, I'd like to talk about roofing operations. Some of the largest property losses can be attributed to careless roof work. Combustible roofing materials such as tar and asphalt shingles and similar covers combined with wind, lack of UL rated firewalls, all can help spread roof fire rather quickly causing complete damage as you can see in this picture. As mentioned previously, some municipalities prohibit work on the roof without hot work fitness training and certification. Management and supervisors need to know who and the competency of anyone working on a roof, especially when hot work is involved. Consideration should be given to using approved materials to having fire extinguishers on hand, good housekeeping, and protection of combustibles and roof projections or penetrations such as skylights. A job site supervisor should implement hot work program to help ensure proper storage of fuels and fire watch procedures. In roofing operations, temperatures of tar kettles and hot luggers we see on the right picture can go up to 400 Fahrenheit and the vapors created from these can be flammable. What you see in this slide are temporary enclosures, often seen at job sites inside unfinished buildings or around the outside of the buildings. Temporary enclosures are useful to help protect an open building from the elements or from dust and debris. Enclosures can be curtains, sometimes used to help contain heat and proper temperatures needed for curing a concrete drywall or even exterior form insulating systems. In the center picture you see structures called shanties or sheds. Their need is essential and can be used for storage offices or shelter. In shanties, workers can help keep their personal belongings at meetings, and I've also seen them used as lunch or break rooms. Unfortunately, they can also be used for unsafe work, including cooking, smoking, and other hazardous practices. At best, at the best job sites that I visited, I've seen shanties that are made of prefabricated and metal materials, non-combustible materials. However, more often than not, shanties are job made of plywood and wood frame, adding significant fire load to unfinished buildings under constructions. In New York City, I often see these with sprinkler system protection, especially in high-rise buildings. According to recent NFPA data, there are more fire departments' responses to fire involving these types of structures at construction job sites than for any other reason. So, let's talk a little bit about temporary heating. We're in the middle of winter, and I thought it would be proper for us to do that. In this slide, we see samples of temporary heating. Portable heating devices are sometimes needed at job sites and essential for the work being done. They can help cure concrete as well as provide comfort to the crews, as I mentioned previously. Regardless of heating devices, they should all be ULFM listed with adequate safety tipover or shutdown capabilities. As we can see in these pictures, heating devices should be clear of combustibles by at least three feet. To the left, in that picture, we see a cooked fuel burner. In the center, we see a kerosene salamander. And on the right, we see a gas fire heater that is located too close to combustible wood frame in this building. Another caution, if heaters are left overnight, then a fire watchman service is required and should be in place. By the way, LPG for heating must be kept outside the building. I wanted to leave this part of the fire hazards last because it's probably the most important. Fire protection capabilities at construction job sites will vary and generally should be strengthening as the construction phase progresses. It is reasonable to say that as the building is completed, it will have more combustibles and higher values. And the building will be larger and taller, presenting challenges to fire protection and fire department access. There is a sad history of fire department fatalities because of failures of stem pipe systems. Only licensed and qualified contractors should design and install temporary dry stem pipe systems or sprinkler systems. More recently, municipalities are starting to enforce ordinances that require dry stem pipe systems or sprinkler systems during construction. Just in New Jersey alone, any time a multi-story building under construction reaches the third floor, a dry stem pipe system must be installed. I previously stated the importance of fire department access to the stem pipe connections. Fire department connections for stem pipe or sprinkler systems must be clear of materials or obstructions. So as you can see in these pictures, they should be prominently marked and signed with signs. We cover fire extinguishers doing hot work. Fire extinguishers should be kept at the job site early on. Their location should be clearly marked as we see in this picture. Could we do the poll now, Julio? Okay, let's do that. Thank you. Why should stem pipes be clearly marked and be accessible? Amazing. I think we can talk about this already. 100% of everyone here has said that they help provide access to fire departments. Very good. As I said, when I was talking about fire extinguishers, their location should be clearly marked and placed where easily accessible at every floor level, job site trailers, tool sheds, shanties, and near gang boxes or staging areas. Supervisors should be constantly on the alert for misplaced or even spent fire extinguishers and check for up-to-date inspection tags. OK. Cord will now cover one of the hazards in builder's risk, second only to fire, and that's wind. Cord? Thanks, Julio. Wind is an interesting subject. And as we see more and more different type of combination construction, such as wood frame with Joseph Mason tree, it provides for an interesting subject. And why wind can be one of the most important subjects to take a look at it. So let's see how this wind exposure can adversely impact the project. Here are some facts that are a little bit disconcerting from my perspective. And you see that losses are almost equal to that of fire. The latest data that we have from 2007 to 11 shows losses at 281 million. Usually the claims have high severity. And the wind and collapse require different planning for weather conditions, et cetera. High rises are always different than lower buildings because the wind at a high level is altogether different than on the ground. And understanding the construction type. So as we look at all of this, it kind of ties together as a living plan that really changes on a daily basis. And again, we talked about the environment a little bit before. And that's what changes is the weather environment, which adds an awful lot to the exposure base. Understand that a builder's risk is a living organism, again, subject to change as it evolves. And that also includes weather conditions that we have to deal with. OK, so wind and collapse, best practices. These are all best practices that you can read on your own. The basic scenario is to really be knowledgeable about the weather condition that's going to occur on any particular day. As we have seen over the last few years, the intensity and duration of wind has greatly increased. Now, whether that's due to global warming or whatever you might think, we really have to get our arms around the idea. I mean, us folks out here on the East Coast are now going to be suffering our fourth Nor'easter in the month of March. So March has really come in like a lion and has really devastated the entire Northeast area. So imagine doing a builder's risk in this type of weather and anticipating what's going on. For example, where I live in Pennsylvania, we're expecting 8 to 12 inches of snow tomorrow. And I can almost guarantee you that there will be no work being done on any particular builder's risk and that today they're buttoning down the hatches, so to speak. So different prevention methods have prevented loss in the past may need to be strengthened or changed based on our anticipated weather changes. So determining securing methods for the building components and the equipment to do the job must be reviewed for any particular given day. And that's the key. OK, damage expectation, masonry walls, framework, forms, roof coverings, unprotected building materials, and, of course, the advent of water during inclement weather. As we begin to put together these different components as we're building the building to put our project together, there will be a time when these components will need to be supported prior to tying them all together and making the envelope dry. In addition, before these components form that weather protective envelope, water can not only damage the component, but damage the interior of the build, too. So water will be another issue that we'll talk about in the very near future here. So let's talk about wind. Most of us understand hurricanes, tropical storm, gales, tornadoes, squalls. But many of us do not understand the last two, the microburst, which really is a quick and heavy downdraft at great velocity. And we usually see something like this in the summer times with thunderstorms. And I've seen where, in a not too distant past, where they were building frame townhouses down close to where I live, that we had a heavy microburst that came down and collapsed the whole section of the wood frame building. And then, of course, sustained wind speed is always of importance, because normally it has a tendency to increase during the day and then back off again at night. But if we're going to have specific sustained wind speeds, that will impact not only the project that's going up, but also the equipment that may be used to do so. So if you want to learn about bracing, there's a bunch of different things that are out there, and also a checklist we'll talk about a little bit later that IMUA has put together. The OSHA provides good bracing scenarios. ANSI provides them. Concrete staging and forms from industry and what needs to be done will help us. And always think, when you're dealing with wind, think more is better. Bracing almost seems like a given, but anticipating and monitoring the weather might, and certainly does on various occasions, require heavier bracing, as the standards above can be considered to be a minimum. The bottom line, again, think more is better than less. Now let's talk about, as I introduced a little bit here with wind, the water exposure. And Julio, it's all yours. Take it away. Thank you, Cord. And thank you for reminding me about the Northeaster that's coming up. You're quite welcome. It's time for me to take out my skis again for this weekend, I hope. So I think that wind is the great way to start talking about weather hazards. And in my talk, you'll see how it's important to be considering, when you're talking about weather, water hazards. With all the exposures we have covered, a review of site plans can assist in assisting water hazards. In assessing water hazards, that is. A construction supervisor's familiarity with the regional weather patterns, as Cord mentioned, the territory and geographical region is important to help determine preventive controls against weather hazards, including water. There should be a plan to implement these tasks that will help protect the job site from rain, freezing, storms, flooding, and other similar types of severe weather. As Cord mentioned, there are many tools available to determine potential for water damage, including monitoring weather by internet, TV, or smartphone applications. I always review flood plans and topographical maps as well. To get a good idea of the direction of water in a region, it's important to have a plan. What is the direction of water, should there be a lot of rain and flooding? Proper planning ahead for water hazards is recommended with adequate resources for these contingencies. In the next slide, I'd like to talk about water collection. As we discussed in the beginning of our water exposures talk, site plans tell us about site topography and nearby bodies of water, such as lakes and streams. Natural low points or collection points may not easily drain water if not prepared. Permanent storm drainage systems are usually in store first at construction sites. Soils that appear cohesive and stable during dry weather can become completely unstable in undermining structures around excavations or trenches when there's rain, not to mention endangering anyone around these trenches. In these pictures, you can see a trench saturated and completely filled with water. The other picture, the hazards are a little more subtle. It's a picture of a building, mostly on clay soil. When I look at buildings like this on a slightly pitched grade, I'm also wondering what's going to happen once it starts raining and that water starts sliding down that hill. In this picture, I wanted to show you this picture, because you can see how a contractor has anticipated the hazards to low-grade excavation from water runoff. In the background, you see a blue tarp covering the entire face of this cliff. It's there to protect the cliff from water in the event of rains and to collect the rainwater at the bottom and behind the concrete wall. At the bottom of the cliff and the blue tarp is a temporary collection system with gravel and piping that channels and drains where you see the green point arrow. You can barely see it, but there's a pipe that comes out of there and is pitched downward towards the street. This takes the rainwater away from this tarp area and the rainwater from the tarp area and the rainwater from the concrete wall takes the rainwater away from this tarp area into the storm drainage system so they're well-established in the city. Furthermore, this particular contractor has seismic monitoring and crack monitoring on the walls and structures around the site. As you can see in the other pictures, there's also mechanical devices that are available, including water pumps. Water damage can also happen on nearly finished buildings as well. Roofs are primary shelter from water. In this picture, you're looking at a new and expensive, by the way, PVC roof cover in a just finished building. Everything was perfect until a contractor left a load of sharp-edged metal scraps laying on it and may have possibly ruined it. During construction, we should ensure that roof systems are protected through the project Once a roof cover is installed, access to the roof should be tightly controlled. In this slide, we see a semi-finished roof. If it rains, the exposed insulation will absorb the water and will not dry, and it will have to be removed and replaced. This is a very expensive hazard. Wind-driven rain could also infiltrate the roof Wind-driven rain could also infiltrate and damage the deck under the finished side where the blue arrow points. Roof systems should be protected from water until completed. A tarp over this area and a completion schedule coordinated with weather forecasting would have been called for. All right, let's talk about construction materials. These are also exposed to water damage. Should water seep in or a water pipe break and leak, most steel and precast concrete products could be salvaged. However, there are other products, such as insulation, sheetrock, that would be permanently damaged and would have to be discarded. Even humidity is problematic with sheetrock from a mold standpoint. For this reason, supplies should be kept to a minimum with just-in-time deliveries when possible. If storage of these materials is absolutely required, it should be elevated and properly sheltered staging areas. Let's pull this particular slide. Pick two of the best answers. Water damage can be prevented with. Very good. I think all of us agree on this. Approximately 35% of you said a written loss control program. I think that's the foundation for every safety effort that you're doing at a job site. Approximately 96% of all of you said effective water collection practices. I think we can all agree to that. And only to protecting the second item, that's number four, protecting newly installed roofs. Very good. I think we can all agree that effective water collection practices are the best way to protect job sites under construction. Thank you. In this last picture, we see the underside of a wood deck that has been damaged by a broken water pipe leak. The joists you see are engineered wood, sometimes called I-joists. These are outstanding with weight to strength ratio and can handle large spans. However, they can be easily damaged by water and it's another material that has to be protected. So, as we see, water damage should be a major concern during construction projects. Wet conditions can damage costly equipment, materials, buildings, and significantly delay the job. Weather conditions, leaky roofs, frozen water pipes can cause water, mud, ice damage. Anticipating these conditions and planning with reliable material suppliers can help control water damage hazards. As I mentioned in my initial comments, please review the IMU-H Builder's Risk document for an in-depth discussion of the hazards and controls of fire and water. Now, Cord will now cover the last portions of our talk this afternoon, including crime exposures. Cord? Thanks, Julio. Crime, the last exposure, and crime is really kind of interesting. I'm sure a lot of you can remember back over the last couple of years where a lot of building sites were being absolutely stripped of all sorts of copper because of the value of the metal in and of itself. Copper wiring was stolen, copper plumbing, et cetera type of thing. And just remember from a crime perspective, it's a major exposure not only to the property being built and the damages there, too, but also to, in many cases, the components and equipment. It really requires a very good understanding of the environment where the project resides and the subsequent security scenarios that need to be covered and taken care of based on where that project is. So, crime, what does it include? Well, the obvious is theft, but the more unobvious may not be mostly aware because who would vandalize a new building? How about malicious mischief? Who would do that? Crime could come from basically a multitude of different directions. Besides the obvious theft of materials, there may well be disgruntled folks, contractors, subcontractors, and even employees of the owner or the general public who really don't like the building going up. On occasion, the general public has entered projects just for a matter of kicks and has done substantial damage to the project for no reason at all. So, you know, any person can really come into a particular project and do substantial damage if we don't have proper security. Here's kind of a, you know, some numbers for you to keep in mind from, you know, 2008 to 2012, $705 million. The average claim size was 20 grand. And, you know, one of the things that's very, very difficult on occasion to convince general contractors and sites is that job security, much like the different other, you know, other exposures, changes through all phases of the construction. And as things get closer to being completed, obviously theft and crime are at a higher rate than some of the others, such as collapse. So, you know, controls must be put in place, really must be planned from the beginning. And there may be continuous addition or different ways to prevent crime. Remember that as the project progresses, the values at risk increase, thereby requiring different monitoring devices and guards. Okay. Did I skip one here? Nope. Okay. All right. Crime from vendors and subcontractors, okay. As we take a look at these different people who are going to be on the site, we want to understand who they are, what they represent, and really who's going to be, you know, taking a look at and making sure that security remains one of the most important things, not only from the perspective of property preservation, but from the perspective of good project management, where you're preventing losses from occurring. So all of these pieces that are here that you can read in the slide help you do that. Okay. Location consideration. All of these considerations must be reviewed on a routine basis, if you will, and managed during the entire project time, and even on occasion, you know, provide different, as we've talked about before, security recommendations, even when the project is completed. The security goes well beyond just preventing crime and includes property preservation techniques, such as material delivery and storage. For example, if we have a guard that notices a leak in a utility, all right, we need to have a communication protocol set up for notification, as well as having knowledge of how to shut off the utility. Now, what's interesting is, is that I've just been reviewing a loss that we have recently had, where we did have a leak of water. And the person who was the security guard didn't understand how to turn the utility off. And then finally, when the fire department came, thought the fire department had turned off and had fixed the leak. Well, unfortunately, the leak was on the 29th floor of a building and was not turned off and continued to leak for another five hours, resulting in a multimillion-dollar loss. As Giulio told you, water and construction components really don't work too well. And anytime there's water damage, the guarantee of any particular system end or flooring operation for that matter, goes out the window and all will have to be replaced. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about Module 6, all right, and the summary checklist. The Loss Control and Claims Committee of the IMUA Technical Committee put together a summary checklist that really is utilized for you as a beginning guide to help provide some of the best practices when dealing with the different exposures that we have. It looks at the different and anticipated processes that will be completed during the build and will address all of the major exposure, not all of the major exposure controls, but most of the major exposure controls. And it's something that will assist and help you continue to move forward with understanding what can happen at a builder's risk, depending on all of these scenarios and the environment. Please remember, and this is very important, that everything changes on a day-to-day basis when you're at a builder's risk. Whether it's a brand new building, whether it's a renovation of a building, whether it's a small or medium-sized installation, it all changes every day. Different environment, different people, different weather conditions, different operations going on, and it changes. Remember, a building can almost be considered like a living organism. It constantly changes and is being updated. So as we look at the summary checklist, yes, all of the exposure bases are covered there. It provides a basis for the four exposures that we just reviewed and even provides further guidance should a claim occur. It's a good start to create your own customized best practices that is specifically created and customized for the project that you are actually working. And that's a very, very important scenario. With that, we'll kind of go to a wrap-up. You know, we've looked at different exposures today, as well as some of the overall goal of good builder's risk management program from the start to the end. The IMUA Laws, Control, and Claims Committee has given you those starting elements on the website. So please, take the time, go in, see what it's all about. Because with that, you'll put together the proper controls in place to prevent loss, and that's truly what we're all about. So let's summarize here. Here are some thoughts to contemplate as you plan to control losses for any builder's risk project you have, okay? Remember, each project is unique, having its own characteristics, and each project has its own characteristics. Look at builder's risk projects just like looking at people. We're all unique. We're all different. We all add a lot. We all have our own idiosyncrasies, and so does the builder's risk. Your overall goals, excellent project management, good communication, good controls in place to prevent loss, and property preservation, not only for the building that we're building, but as Julio stated or showed you during the fire scenario, adjacent buildings or adjacent properties. When I'm dealing with New York City projects that go below ground, in many cases, we have to deal with the underground subway tubes and how we're going to impact those, and there's a lot of permitting that goes on with that and proper planning and everything else to prevent damage to those subright rails. Your exposures that you work with within project management and property preservation obviously are fire, water, crime, and wind, and I think we were able to hopefully convince you today that those are the areas where you have to play the game. The exposures evolve. They change as a project progresses. In the beginning, we have to deal with a lot of collapse because all of the components are not tied together. As we begin to move forward from there, water becomes more of an essence, and I think Julio did a great job in talking to you all about that today and how water can have a really negative impact on what's going on. Crime, as we begin to develop and put together materials and get towards the end of the project, crime becomes a scenario. Of course, wind can occur at any particular time during the project. So we really need to play in the four areas here at all times. So remember, all players must be involved and accountable and each day on the project. So these are the thoughts to contemplate as you plan your losses for any builder's risk project, whether you have a new building, renovation, or installation project. Julio, do you have anything more to summarize? Sure. Kurt, thank you. I think that when you said that all players must be involved and accountable, I think that's a great transition into what I'm about to say. I think that my best advice to job site supervisors and managers and even loss control persons is that the best tool that we have available is constantly there, and it's really difficult to put a value on it, but you can tell right away that it does have significant value, and that tool is a positive safety attitude. Let me explain. So if the work crews perceive a poor safety attitude on the part of management, they will follow this lead and behave likewise. You will likely see evidence of this throughout the job site as you visit it in the form of hot work practices, substandard housekeeping, poor storage, and even substandard quality and timeliness of work. Getting back on track after all this happens can be very tough. However, when the workers detect a positive safety attitude and are held accountable from the start of the job, we are likely to see a project that will be completed safely and timely manner. Thank you. Okay. With that, I guess we'll open it up for any questions that the audience has or concerns or hopefully we didn't muddy the waters too much for you. So please, fire away with your questions. Yes, and to ask a question, type it into the Q&A box that we just pulled up, and then click submit, and we'll receive your question immediately. While we're waiting for that, I just wanted to mention the papers that Julio and Cord referenced during today's presentation. Everyone should have received a copy of the most recent paper, the project management paper, as a PDF. At the end of that paper, there are direct links to all of the six sections of the paper that Julio and Cord referenced today. So could you elaborate a bit on... On slide 40, one of the attendees asked if you could elaborate a bit on that slide. And we're going to... If you can get me back to slide 40, we'll do it. We're going to pull slide 40 up a little bit right now. As far as the site security considerations, you know, again, this goes back to determining the amount of security that you need at any particular given time. There are different surveillance techniques. There's chain link fence. There's lighting. There's guards. One of the things that I like to see is perimeter cameras and internal cameras type of thing that actually monitor what's going on inside. I like to see guards that actually understand totally, make regular rounds, and are very, very tuned into what and how to turn off utilities should there be a problem. You know, staggered paths, communication protocol if there is a problem is all very important. So, again, I think you'll see the safety checklist in there. We'll provide you what you need to do on that, Greg. Does that answer your question? All right. Thank you, Cord. And we have another question. Megan writes, we've seen an uptick in interior water damage claims. What recommendations would you give for mitigating against these losses? Well, actually, it goes back to what I call a water damage prevention program. And, once again, this is something that evolves as the project goes through. We're seeing a lot of times where subcontractors are not being vetted from the perspective of, you know, what sort of testing is being done on internal systems, water systems and pressure systems that you're putting inside. So, to answer your question, Megan, I would suggest that the general contractor provide, or you ask them, exactly what sort of testing and inspection procedures you have for any sort of system, water system that's being put into the building. I think that you'll find that this will go a long way to making sure that the work is done in a proper manner. Cord, I think that another reason that I, that you've seen a lot of water damage claims could be the timing. Sometimes contractors try to hurry through the process. And so, the timing on roof covers, enclosures, and all that is off. And so, what you end up having is a lot of material being brought into the job site that shouldn't be exposed to weather at all. So, a lot of it has to do with the organization and the timing of the contractors, and the resources. I mean, you should be able to see the materials that will protect temporarily a roof. If there's a hazard of water, rain, or something similar to that occurring while the interior work is going on. So, a lot of it has to do with the adequate resources and timing as well. Yes, you're correct, Julio. Thank you. Okay. The next question from Joseph, can you comment about torch down roofing? And the second part is, how often is it used, and how hazardous is it? Well, I did mention that some of the material that some of the kettles that are used in hot tar operations can reach up to 400 Fahrenheit. And the flammable fumes that are developed from this can be pretty hazardous. Regarding the torch down, I think that what we need to do is consider that hot work. We've got to have fire watch in place. You have to have someone designated to make sure that there are no embers or anything flying off that could possibly hide between the materials. Again, you know, I mentioned high winds in the past. Just the high winds alone can cause a small ember to ignite significant parts of that roofing material. So, having the means to have fire extinguishers in place, a fire watch program, are some of the best ways that you can avoid fires on the roof when there's hot work going on in them. Joseph, this is Cord. To add on to that, as part of good project management, when we have these types of roofs that are going up, then there is a need to sit down and plan, understand the environment that you're working in, and make sure that all of the safety controls are in place when you're dealing with that type of roof. There are many different types of roofs that go up type of thing, and each one of them has their own idiosyncrasies in regards to how they're put down, how they're protected, and how to prevent any sort of fire from occurring. Thank you. This next one is from Hartford. Could you speak to or give some thoughts on the impact of multiple extensions with projects? Okay. That's an interesting question. Multiple extensions require, from my perspective, and since I'm part of the Hartford Risk Engineering Division, something that we really need to take a hard look at is engineering numbers and support for those particular extensions going on a building. Now, if you're talking about extensions because the work has not been completed, okay, it all depends on what sort of environment the project's been going through as it's progressed. There may be very, very good reasons why there's a need for an extension, for coverage, if you will, however, we need to be able to investigate the underlying reason for the extension and not normally just, you know, have a broker come in and say to us, hey, we need another 90-day extension. Go ahead and underwrite it, okay? My approach to that would be is why do you need the extension? Provide me the details, and I'd like to be able to talk to my fellow underwriters in our Risk Engineering Department about that, and then we'll get back to you. So that's, excuse me, to me that's the best way of handling an extension of coverage if that's what you're talking about. This next question is from Jason. It was mentioned during today's presentation that lost control should visit the site prior to construction beginning. For those of us who rely on outside inspection services, what recommendation would you make? Okay, here's the deal. Many outside independent surveyors, you know, will say to you, what am I going to inspect? Dirt? And the answer to that is is that as you sit down and you go through the two goals of good project management and property preservation and trying to determine whether or not that exists at a particular project, the best time to do that is before the project even begins. You have the time to sit down with the owner, the general contractor, and work through them and say to them, all right, we have these four exposures that we just got done talking about. How are you going to control? How are you going to vet the subs that they're controlling these exposures in order for us to have the goals of good property preservation and outstanding or excellent project management? So really, the time to spend with the general contractors and the owners really is before the project begins. Because once the project begins, they're really not going to have the time to do that. So to help you on that, Jason, one of the things that I would highly suggest is that you put together an agenda of the items that you uncovered based upon the safe practices that we talked about today and the exposures and the goals, and then have that independent surveyor report back to you how that general contractor is going to indeed, you know, reach that goal of property preservation and also excellent project management. Julia, you got anything to add? Okay, I think that you've covered it pretty well. The next question is from Philip. How would you deal with the adjacent building collapse potential exposure that was discussed in slide seven? This is both a fire and collapse potential exposure. Right. What I suspect that this contractor should do, again, this was not my job site. I just happened to be driving by it. But what should be done is to make sure that the fire department authorities are aware of what's going on with that adjoining building or the adjacent building, and that there are alternate means to be able to get to the job site in coordination with the fire authorities and the police departments to be able to get to the job site in the event of a building collapse. Looking at those pictures and glancing at how the building was being held up, I would say that if I was the loss control person for that job site, I would make sure that the fire department is aware and has a fire plan ready in the event that that building blocks off that street. If I can help you a little bit there, too, Philip, on many inner city projects, you have adjacent buildings, adjacent subway tubes, and all sorts of things. Now, as we're building a new building or tearing down a building, one of the things we like to do or what I like to recommend is that you walk around the site and you take a look and, first of all, your engineering reviews and stuff like that, geotech reports, et cetera. And you also, you know, get to know your neighbors a little bit. Take a look at their buildings, see if there's any damages that are there. Now, if you have to start driving, let's say, I-beams around, you know, steel pilings or something like that, there is a thing called an impact recorder that you can put around your site that will let you know how much of an impact you're having on the adjacent buildings. And since, you know, in a lot of cases, when we're building new buildings around old, you'll find that many general contractors will put these impact recorders in. And if there should be a claim or something that occurs, then we can use the impact recorders and the recordings that they made to bolster the case that we did not do that. Now, if you are attaching to other buildings like you might do in downtown Manhattan type of thing, then the proof of the pudding is in the engineering numbers and the engineering, professional engineering reviews that were done. And it's always important to review all of that with the general contractor, especially geotech reports where, in all cases, there are recommendations of how to do this without damaging adjacent structures. Thank you. Next question is from Justin. What do you like to see in terms of fire extinguishers? And there's three parts to this question. When and where and how many is the second part. And do you go by NFPA? Yes. Both the NFPA and I believe OSHA also cover fire extinguishers and how they should be situated in, at a job site. I would recommend not traveling more than 75 feet to get to a fire extinguisher. So it all depends on how big the floor plan is. However, you do need to be able to get to a fire extinguisher So it all depends on how big the floor plan is. However, you definitely want to see one at every floor level. And you would want the type of fire extinguishers that can be applied to most fires. A, B, C type fire extinguishers are good. The 10-pound fire extinguishers are probably the best. You want them to have a good extinguishing amount, aging amount. And you want them to be readily available. The other thing that I would recommend is make sure that your guys know how to use that fire extinguishers. If there's no, if no one in the facility knows how to use a fire extinguisher, it could come as a complete surprise when they operate it. So fire extinguisher training also goes hand in hand with that. Yeah, just if I can add something, Justin. When I look at the different structures, type of construction that's going up, if I have an all-frame building that's going up, not only do I require fire extinguishers, but I also require heat detectors that are spaced not all that far apart and in every particular nook and cranny. Because once fire starts in a frame building, you know, it's hell to pay. And fire extinguishers in many cases will not be enough. However, heat detectors can get us information. If one of them goes off, we can then get there with the fire extinguishers and use the extinguisher. So again, you have to take a look at the type of structure that's going up, the type of construction that's being done, and then determine what sort of fire prevention or fire detection equipment that you need. That's a good point, Cord. I think that as wood technology progresses, you're likely to see more and more frame-type buildings, and that's a completely, that's a pretty extensive topic that should be covered in its own, but you're likely to see that. And having smoke detectors or even fires, even the installation with a sprinkler system, it's, it may be called for depending on the size of the frame building. I absolutely concur. That's a totally different animal. And our last question is from Jamie Ross. Have you noticed in your experience if there have been, if there has been an escalation in claims, fire or water, perhaps, as per Julio, especially with rushed construction schedules, and such as project managers missing or skipping on daily risk assessment reports as they are needing or getting pushed to get a floor completed, and other, okay, go ahead. Okay, yeah, I can help you with that. That's why, that's one of the reasons that Cord and the Lost Control and Claims Committee took, participated in putting together that program management module in this discussion because of that. I think that if you plan ahead and meet with management ahead of time, you have a pretty good gauge of how well the job site will be and whether the plans are in place to control the hazards, and you also know when those plans are not being implemented the way that you were, that was indicated in the initial meetings with management. So, knowing what the plans are, knowing how the management will be executing on those plans, is key to determining whether everything is going the way it's supposed to or not. Yeah, Jamie, to add to what Julio said, you know, there's an awful lot of, excuse me, renovation projects that are occurring in cities and in towns, where they're utilizing, you know, the older buildings and rehabbing them. Also, I'm seeing more and more what I would call a combination buildings where you have 20% wood frame, 20% joisted masonry, and, you know, the rest fire-resistant. So, when you take a look at the project in total, or your loss control folks take a look at the project in total, if it's a combination build, you have to look at looking at the four exposures from the lowest common denominator. So, if I have a really neat building that's fire-resistant in the basement and first couple of floors and then joisted masonry on top of that, and then I have a wood-supported roof type of thing, I'm probably going to pay a lot of attention to what the exposure control is going to be for the frame roof. Not that I'm going to disregard, you know, the other areas, but that's my lowest common denominator. So, taking a look at how these things are being put together, the fact they're using combination construction today, and it's not 100%, you know, ISO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, whatever it happens to be, that it is combination. And remember, when I talked about each one of these builder's risks being unique, you have to get down into the detail. Your loss control people, your brokers, underwriters have to get down into the detail of what these things are. And then make your assessment of whether or not the people who are running this thing know what they're doing, have properly vetted the subs, have properly, you know, can do the job, et cetera. So, I spend a lot of time talking about people's qualifications and how things were vetted. So, take a lesson from this, you know, presentation today to work with each builder's risk as a unique entity and really understand what you have. Julio, anything else? Oh, that's excellently said, Cord. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Lillian, I guess we're pretty much done, unless there's other questions. Yep, that's all of our questions. Thank you, Cord and Julio, for a very informative presentation. Thank you. It was a lot of fun. Thanks also to you, our attendees, for your interesting questions and for your participation today. All attendees will receive a survey to provide feedback to IMUA. Please take a few moments to give us that feedback as it will help us in planning future professional development programs. This ends today's webinar. Have a great rest of the day.

webinar

Lillian Colson

Cord Spielman

Julio Carrillo

Builder's Risk Guide

risk assessment

loss control measures

fire prevention

water prevention

crime prevention

wind prevention

construction sites

safety standards