The Environment and how we manage it has continued to receive attention and focus from every industry, compounded by ever increasing and stringent regulation including the European Environmental Liability Directive (ELD).
ELD is designed to make companies across Europe take on a greater degree of responsibility and accountability for the way we act and promotes a heightened awareness of our impact on the environment. The regulation looks to prevent further incidents of damage to land, water and biodiversity whilst limiting the propensity for liability claims being identified when damage occurs to a third party.
It is vital that environmental claims are therefore managed swiftly, appropriately and effectively to ensure damage limitation both in terms of the environment but also through costs to an insurer. Added to this over the past year some insurers and brokers have witnessed environmental business more than double, bringing an increased need to understand and expertly manage such claims.
However with such a focus the environment and a growing insurance market, the ways in which these claims are being handled has perhaps lagged behind, often becoming elongated – creating a negative customer experience and all too often costing insurers more than they should.
In response, Merlin has developed an innovative new model to address the changing needs of this growing and dynamic market. Merlin’s model has been developed in a strategic partnership alongside MEL Environmental solutions, to deliver an unrivalled level of expertise whilst driving down the cost and time taken to resolve claims.
The Merlin model consists of a team of Adjusters with the technical knowledge and experience to ensure the right approach is adopted on a case by case basis, whether the claim is first party, third party, commercial or household. The Environmental team integrate seamlessly and benefit from the support and expertise of Merlin’s Claims Technicians, Surveyors as well as MEL, all of whom use some of the most advanced technical innovations to enable the delivery of this market leading service.
The model is built around the belief that making the right decision at the outset of a claim is fundamental in driving down the lifecycle of a claim and limit liability in the long run. An initial quality call determines the nature, cause and type of claim to ensure that the right skills are deployed to meet each claim’s individual requirements. The call is followed by joint site visits by both the appointed Loss Adjuster and MEL, to assess the site, gather recovery information and put in place any immediate mitigation methods to prevent further damage. This joint approach continues throughout the process allowing for highly efficient channels of communication amongst all parties.
Ultimately this streamlined collaborative approached mitigates environmental damage, reduces cost, reduces claim lifecycle by up to 5 weeks compared to traditional methods, limiting insurer liability and all whilst minimising impact on the policyholder to improve the customer experience.
This innovative approach means Environmental claims should no longer ‘Cost the Earth’, in more ways than one!
Contact Merlin today to learn more about this innovative new model and how they can help you.
