New Pollution Loss Database combines historical data, analytics

A 2021 ICTA nomination

Toronto, ON (Apr. 5, 2021) – Two years ago, our own loss adjusters, as well as risk managers and underwriters, were relying on their own personal experiences and those of their colleagues to assess oil and gas risks and estimate loss reserves – just as they always had. This tacit information was (and still is) valuable. But it was also inherently subjective, and prone to cognitive biases.

At Charles Taylor Canada, we recognized that we could improve this method of working by using our 20+ years of experience in managing oil and gas losses to draw on our significant historical data. From this we could provide objective analytics on loss trends that would assist our own loss adjusters, as well as risk managers and underwriters.

Our solution: The Pollution Loss Database

• In late 2019, we drew on support from Charles Taylor InsureTech to launch a comprehensive Pollution Loss Database of insurance losses related to oil field incidents in Western Canada over a ten-year period.
• The database aggregates data from hundreds of sudden and accidental oil-field-related insurance losses across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Alberta; the region where much of the Canadian oil and gas industry is centralized with the largest concentration of pollution losses.
• It is updated with new loss facts and details bi-monthly to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of insurance loss data for the region.

Essential features:

• The Pollution Loss Database is the most wide-ranging amalgamation of relevant loss data from oil & gas pipeline and well operations for the region.
• It represents information on the vast majority of insurance losses triggered by accidental incidents reported during the prior 10-year period.
• This information is presented in a value-adding format to identify and analyze loss patterns and risk trends.
• The databased application is accessible via Charles Taylor’s user-friendly digitized dashboards, offering interactive data analytics that deliver at-a-glance summaries of key information across myriad search criteria.
• The dashboards are available via a secure portal, protected by a username and password that is unique to each individual user.

Data related to per loss events include:

• Year of spill
• Province
• Region
• Type of terrain (water, agricultural, muskeg, etc.)
• Type of loss (pipeline spill, blowout)
• Type source (well or pipeline)
• Cause (corrosion, impact, defect, etc.)
• Leak duration in days
• Diameter of line (inches)
• Type of line (steel, fiberglass, composite, etc.)
• Type of contaminant (oil, ngls, saltwater, etc.)
• Approx. spill volume (cubic meters)
• Age of line
• Gross quantum
• Gross quantum (inflation adjusted)
• Average of gross quantum
• Number of claims

The Benefits

• The Pollution Loss Database offers our loss adjusters, as well as insurers, brokers and oil & gas companies who subscribe to the service, a unique, holistic view of pollution losses across Western Canada over the past decade and more.
• It provides quantifiable insights on environmental loss patterns and risk trends via a value-added technologically advanced platform – using critical criteria specific to a client’s business.
• As an objective analytical tool, it supplements a reliance on personal experience with statistically relevant data; providing key metrics, such as loss ratio, severity and average cost per claim.
• By enabling our loss adjusters to combine their own industry experience with historical market data points, the tool has improved our adjusters’ ability to estimate accurate loss reserves.
• Risks and their associated costs can now be more accurately identified by our insurer, broker, and insured clients, which is leading to improved risk management.
• The tool does not replace the tacit knowledge of adjusters, risk managers and underwriters, but instead provides another lens through which they can holistically assess the risks involved.

About Charles Taylor

Charles Taylor provides insurance services, claims and technology solutions to the global insurance market. Its technical expertise, technological tools and breadth of solutions enable clients to outperform, by addressing complexities and challenges across every stage of the insurance lifecycle and operating model.

Charles Taylor employs approximately 3,100 staff in over 120 locations across 30 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. It has earned the trust of a diversified, blue-chip international customer base that includes national and international insurance companies, mutuals, captives, MGAs, Lloyd’s syndicates and reinsurers, along with brokers, distributors and corporate insureds.

For more information, visit www.charlestaylor.com.

Source: Charles Taylor Canada