Verisk Offers Insurers Address-Level Insights to Better Assess Fire Protection Capabilities

Rhea-AI Summary

Verisk (Nasdaq: VRSK) has launched LOCATION® Property Protection Score™ (PPS), a new solution providing address-level fire protection scoring for insurers. Building upon their existing LOCATION® Public Protection Classification® (PPC) system, used by over 250 insurers, PPS enhances fire protection assessment with features like actual drive times based on traffic patterns, property-specific characteristics, and detailed water distance measurements. This development comes as U.S. fire departments responded to approximately 1.5 million fires in 2022, causing an estimated $18 billion in property damage, with house structure fires occurring every 88 seconds.

Positive

• Enhancement of existing fire protection assessment system used by 250+ insurers
• Introduction of more granular, address-level fire protection scoring
• Integration of real-time traffic patterns and property-specific data for better risk assessment

Negative

• None.

Insights

Insurance Risk Analyst

The introduction of LOCATION® Property Protection Score™ represents a significant advancement in property risk assessment technology. This address-level fire protection scoring system offers unprecedented granularity compared to traditional community-based assessments, incorporating important variables like real-time traffic patterns and property-specific characteristics.

With U.S. fire departments responding to fires every 88 seconds and annual property damage reaching $18 billion, this enhanced scoring system could substantially improve insurers' ability to price risk accurately. The integration of localized traffic patterns and property-specific data points enables more precise premium calculations, potentially leading to more competitive pricing for well-protected properties while better identifying high-risk locations.

This tool's market impact extends beyond pricing - it creates a feedback loop where communities are incentivized to improve their fire suppression systems, potentially reducing overall insurance costs and improving public safety. For insurers, this represents a competitive advantage in risk selection and pricing sophistication.

LOCATION® Property Protection Score™ (PPS) measures homeowners fire protection with deeper granularity and enhanced scoring criteria

JERSEY CITY, N.J., Nov. 19, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verisk (Nasdaq: VRSK), a leading global data analytics and technology provider, today introduced LOCATION^® Property Protection Score^™ (PPS), which provides insurers with a score that represents fire protection capabilities at the address level. This score supports an insurers’ ability to accurately rate and underwrite personal lines homeowners risks.

LOCATION PPS builds on Verisk’s LOCATION^® Public Protection Classification^® (PPC), the industry standard for community-based fire protection scoring used by more than 250 insurers. LOCATION PPC tracks the response capabilities of local fire departments across more than 36,000 fire protection areas and incorporates a range of grading criteria such as emergency communications, fire department, water supply and community risk reduction.

Consistent with LOCATION PPC, LOCATION PPS leverages the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) criteria and is enhanced with inputs such as:

• Actual expected drive times between an address and the nearest responding fire station, based on localized traffic patterns in addition to distance.
• A proprietary data set of property-specific characteristics.
• Deeper granularity in the measurement of distance to water.
  

“Insurers want stronger predictive performance and informative insights surrounding the properties they insure, and LOCATION PPS delivers,” said Austin Grigsby, associate vice president, personal property solutions at Verisk. “As with LOCATION PPC, fire departments and communities can impact LOCATION PPS scoring by updating and maintaining their fire suppression system and criteria – in turn, building more resilient communities.”

According to The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), U.S. local fire departments responded to an estimated 1.5 million fires in 2022, resulting in an estimated $18 billion in property damage. In addition, U.S. fire departments responded to house structure fires every 88 seconds that same year, underscoring the importance of LOCATION PPS’s enhancements.

James Roche, senior vice president of property product management at Verisk, added: “LOCATION PPS’s innovative efforts can provide insurance carriers greater granularity in fire protection assessment, which is essential for assessing the relationship between fire suppression and related losses. As an industry, it’s pivotal we account for all external factors that can impact response time and capabilities – because every second matters.”

LOCATION PPS is now available in select markets. For more information about LOCATION PPS, please visit Verisk’s LOCATION fire protection webpage.

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About Verisk 
Verisk (Nasdaq: VRSK) is a leading strategic data analytics and technology partner to the global insurance industry. It empowers clients to strengthen operating efficiency, improve underwriting and claims outcomes, combat fraud and make informed decisions about global risks, including climate change, extreme events, sustainability and political issues. Through advanced data analytics, software, scientific research and deep industry knowledge, Verisk helps build global resilience for individuals, communities and businesses. With teams across more than 20 countries, Verisk consistently earns certification by Great Place to Work and fosters an inclusive culture where all team members feel they belong. For more, visit Verisk.com and the Verisk Newsroom. 

FAQ

What is Verisk's new LOCATION Property Protection Score (PPS) for fire protection assessment?

LOCATION PPS is Verisk's new address-level fire protection scoring system that helps insurers assess and underwrite homeowners risks by evaluating fire protection capabilities using enhanced criteria including traffic patterns, property characteristics, and water distance measurements.

How many insurers use Verisk's LOCATION Public Protection Classification system?

More than 250 insurers use Verisk's LOCATION Public Protection Classification (PPC) system for community-based fire protection scoring.

What was the estimated property damage from fires in the US in 2022 according to VRSK?

According to The National Fire Protection Association cited in Verisk's release, U.S. fires caused an estimated $18 billion in property damage in 2022.