Are your temperature-dependent goods adequately protected?

Authored by NMU

When it comes to the storage of certain goods, such as food produce and medical supplies, temperature control can be a critical factor. And when equipment failure, power outages and failure of temperature regulation occurs, stock can be damaged or destroyed, causing significant financial loss for businesses.

With the cold chain industry set to grow significantly* in the next five years, it’s essential that the right protection is considered and standalone Deterioration of Stock Insurance protection may be the answer.

Where NMU can help

Development Underwriter, Matt Shaw talks us through a recent example of where he assisted a broker partner in placing their clients’ deterioration of stock exposures with NMU.

We assisted a business who manufactures and distributes fresh food for the ‘food to go’ market.

Cover was previously placed under a commercial combined policy but a growing business and a subsequent increase in goods exposure within the policyholders’ own and third parties cold store facilities, meant that the risk was no longer suitable under the expiring arrangement, so cover needed to be placed separately – which is where our Deterioration of Stock Insurance offering can help.

As standard, our Deterioration of Stock Insurance provides cover for damage to goods stored in cold store facilities, caused by a rise or fall in temperature, or by the action of refrigerant fumes which have escaped from any cold store.

Providing support and advice around loss prevention

The policyholder was concerned about increasing insurance costs as the business continued to expand and the value of goods stored within their cold store facilities increased.

We initially worked with the broker and policyholder to understand the current loss prevention controls in place.

Existing controls included a robust temperature control procedure in place centred around an automated temperature alarm configured to send alerts by SMS text or email in the event of a rise or fall in temperature within set thresholds prior to the goods suffering damage. The alarm system was also configured to capture daily reports recording regular temperature checks, a minimum requirement under our policy.

Ultimately, we were happy with the risk and provided them with a bespoke specialist policy to suit their need. Providing insurance protection is however just one aspect of our capabilities.

To further support the policyholder in their continued growth plans and in conjunction with our risk control team, we also provided training and advice around effective loss prevention of temperature dependant goods, including support around regular inspection and servicing of refrigeration plant, contingency plans in the event of damage to a cold store units and mitigating loss in the event of a power outage. We also collaborated on a risk mitigation plan to identify, analyse and mitigate the risk in order to reduce the likelihood that those risks would happen.

Multi-risk solutions

In addition to providing protection for storage of goods in cold store facilities, we identified that the policyholder required breakdown protection for their cold store units. A solution was provided under our Machinery Damage Insurance offering.

Similar to other businesses in the manufacture and distribution of fresh food sector, the policyholder held customer information including payment details and were concerned about data breaches and the damage a cyber event could mean to their business and reputation. As such, we were able to also provide protection with our standalone CyberSafe Insurance solution.

Building insurance solutions based upon a real understanding of the risks faced by policyholders

We made the difference by using our deterioration of stock underwriting expertise and taking the time to understand the policyholders’ business, developing a product that protected their individual needs, adding value by being able to complement the cover with Risk Control support. In addition to the Deterioration of Stock Insurance we assisted the broker place the clients’ CyberSafe Insurance and Machinery Breakdown Insurance.

For businesses exposures outside the UK, we are also able to offer global capabilities for certain products, saving our brokers’ and policyholders’ the inconvenience of securing policies for individual territories separately elsewhere.

Contact us

If you would like to talk to NMU about their Deterioration of Stock, Machinery Damage, or CyberSafe propositions CLICK HERE to contact one of their specialists.