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03/01/2003
NATE Insurance Program
Automobile Liability
Much of the focus of NATE and the Insurance Program in the last six years has been on fall protection and safety. The fact is that serious falls and fatalities have cost NATE members and the insurance program several million dollars. These falls were in many cases due to a lack of proper training or gross oversight by individuals who were properly trained.
It is appropriate that NATE continue to focus on safety and education among its member companies and work with OSHA and telecom companies to further the cause of proper safety and training for the tower industry. The industry has a long way to go to ensure that all companies erecting and maintaining towers are fully trained and qualified.
Managing the insurance program offers us a glimpse into the industry that many do not see. We serve over 100 tower companies and we receive the claims notices that come in each week on losses that occur. These losses are workers compensation, general liability, automobile, and property losses.
Other than workers compensation losses due to falls, automobile losses are the hidden exposure that is a concern to us in the insurance program.
As most of you know, we had to abandon our automobile coverage through AIG as not to endanger the other lines of coverage. The automobile losses exceeded 175% overall and there were no signs of improvement. We continue to offer automobile coverage through other markers for NATE members.
NATE member companies must disclose their driver list which includes name, address, and drivers license number to obtain automobile quotes. In most cases when we researched the drivers licenses there were at least three or four (sometimes 10-15) that had serious offenses including DUI's, failure to appear, and excessive speeding violations. In most cases these drivers had not yet reached the age of 30.
NATE members allow these drivers to drive vehicles valued up to $100,000, carry fellow employees, and in many cases drive for personal use. These drivers pose a serious risk for NATE as an organization. NATE will not successfully fulfill its obligation of safety and education until this issue is dealt with and considered in future meetings and safety manuals.
We are asking NATE members and the Safety & Education Committee to work with us to implement standards for driver training and to issue a standard to which NATE members must adhere to in hiring drivers. It is our belief that eventually these drivers could cost a NATE member or members more money than a fall or fatality. Note that a fatality cost benefits in workers compensation (with statutory limits), and auto claims can reach the $1,000,000 liability limits and then penetrate the umbrella limit (up to $25,000,000) in some cases.
We are developing ideas to suggest to the NATE Board of Directors and Safety & Education Committee. We invite any member to contribute to these suggestions.
Patrick Shea is an Account Executive for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. He can be reached at Arthur J. Gallagher's office at 4201 Bee Caves Road, Ste. A-101, Austin, Texas 78746.
Tel: 800-637-1016; Fax: 512-306-8808; E-mail: patrick_ shea@ajg.com
Patrick Shea
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