Recovery and protection Finalising claims from last summer’s catastrophes is moving ahead as insurers adjust to operating amid a pandemic By Wendy Pugh
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andling claims after Australia’s worst natural disaster season on record was always going to be challenging, but the stakes have risen exponentially with the arrival of the most devastating pandemic since the Spanish flu. Lockdowns and social distancing have seen masks worn on visits to the sites of property claims, digital technology accelerated and teams working from home as COVID-19 has added hurdles while increasing the importance of a rapid response. “Right now, we need to be safe, but not lose momentum,” Suncorp Head of Claims Michael Miller told Insurance News. “In particular for bushfire-impacted communities, we know the faster we can inject funds into the local communities the stronger the recovery will be from the fires and the ongoing pandemic.” The catastrophe season started last September and reached a crescendo early this year with bushfires raging in southeast Australia, hailstorms hitting the ACT, Victoria and New South Wales in January and severe storms battering the east coast in February. Australia confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on January 25. By the end of the month it was evacuating citizens from overseas, and by mid-March the country was in lockdown. “Since the start of the pandemic it has been far from business as usual,” Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) spokesman Campbell Fuller says. “Most of the industry is still working from home, and centralised call centres have been closed. This is affecting response times, claims-handling and other services.” ICA figures show the value of claims from the
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summer storm, bushfire and hailstorm catastrophes reached $5.19 billion by mid-May, and despite challenges and the “handbrake effect” of COVID-19 almost 50% of those have been closed. For the bushfires, which caused losses of $2.3 billion, almost two-thirds of residential building claims and more than 80% of contents claims have been closed. Insurers say they have kept claims-handling on track through using new technologies to assess damage remotely, having appropriate protections in place for on-site visits, and minimising any disruptions from having staff working at home. Mr Fuller says ICA liaised with state and territory authorities to ensure insurance personnel, including claims assessors and builders, could move freely within and between states, despite community travel restrictions, and developed health and hygiene guidelines for personnel accessing ccustomers’ properties and motor vehicles. QBE Australia Pacific Chief Claims Officer Jon Fox says the insurer’s business continuity plans were activated at the early stages of COVID-19 and included a strong focus on supporting bushfire-affected customers with their recovery. “We immediately initiated a screening process with our customers and suppliers that assessed any potential transmission risk, before any site visits would be arranged,” he says. “Aside from the health and safety implications, it was very important with the uncertainty of the situation that everyone felt comfortable proceeding in a protected environment.” Mr Fox says that prior to the pandemic lockdown
