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Historically, tracking and monitoring impairments has largely been a manual, cumbersome process largely done for the benefit of the insurer. Today, organizations need to manage their risks more efficiently and this requires effective tools and processes.
Most companies and facilities have policies and procedures for dealing with impairments. In general, when a piece of fire protection equipment (pumps, sprinklers, etc.) is taken off line for repairs—or even routine maintenance—there are forms to be filled out and people to be notified. However, because of the inefficiencies surrounding a paper system, procedures are often ignored or notification is delayed. This can result in a dangerous lack of knowledge concerning a facility’s fire fighting capability as well as delays in system restoration.
And less obvious, but no less important, the resulting data from a more manual process does not easily lend itself to any type of analysis or benchmarking. Organizations are not easily able to:
- Determine if a piece of equipment is down an unusual number of times or if repairs are taking longer than normal
- Benchmark like facilities or like equipment against each other
- Quickly determine what percent of a facility’s fire fighting capability is unusable at any point in time
- Identify trends
- Incorporate risk reduction and process improvements
What will you say when they ask what happened?
Management teams that are responsible for the safety and security not only of a facility’s physical assets but also its people should be asking themselves questions such as:
How well do we follow our impairment policies and procedures?
Can someone quickly tell me the status of all our fire protection equipment?
Are there pieces of equipment that are off-line too often?
Have we taken the appropriate measures to protect our colleagues, business, and operations?
Are the correct people being notified when an impairment is of high consequence?
Are repairs and maintenance being completed on time?
Am I able to benchmark the facility’s impairment data?
Dealing effectively and efficiently with impairments is a critical part of any facility’s day-to-day operations. Knowing the status of a facility’s fire equipment can mean the difference between a small fire and a major loss.
Who’s looking out for you?
Impairment monitoring should not be about insurance requirements but about an organization’s need to stay in business. Marsh’s new impairment tracking system has been designed to aid clients in managing and monitoring their impairments efficiently and effectively. Utilizing a central, Web-based module of TrendTracker®, this system makes it possible for a client to create and perform impairment logs, track impairment status, run reports, and more.
Impairment Tracker shifts users from a paper-based to a Web-based system. Gone are the days of phone notifications—the system will send out e-mail notifications when an emergency impairment occurs, if the impairment involves critical equipment or impacts a large percentage of the facility, and if the system is not restored on time. System rules have been designed to determine when an impairment warrants management notification; no longer is the notification decision in the hands of the person documenting the impairment.
Users of Impairment Tracker have access only to the data and functions that are pertinent to their role in reporting and tracking improvements. This built-in security protects the unauthorized viewing and manipulation of data.
Benefits to organizations that utilize Marsh’s Impairment Tracker system include:
- Control of the impairment process aligned to meet company objectives
- Measurement of key metrics around reporting and system restorations
- Automatic notifications and follow-up notices
- Measurement of trends in equipment downtime, such as an unusual number of times the equipment is down or if repairs are taking longer than normal
- The ability to benchmark like facilities or like equipment against standard and past performance
- Identification of process improvements using system results
- Analysis of historical records and data
- Ability to quickly determine what percent of a facility’s fire fighting capability is unusable at any point in time
- Cost savings by using technology over the old, paper-based manual process
- Reduction in the time needed to manage and monitor impairments
If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact us.
If you are seeking information about insurance and related services, please visit marsh.com.
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