What is Notice of Occurrence and how does it affect my district?
Understanding how to handle a loss is absolutely critical for public entities and sending in a notice of occurrence is an important step in that process.
A notice of occurrence simply means notifying your insurance company of an incident, which can help your organization in several ways: preventing further damage to its property as well as paying fewer out-of-pocket costs.
Upon notifying the Pool, an adjuster can assess the damage and provide your organization with mitigation steps. Keep in mind that if your district takes action to repair its property or has made legal decisions before your claims adjusters are notified, it could ultimately hurt your organization as well as the Pool. Your claims adjusters are there to make informed decisions in your district’s best interest.
There are a few things you’ll need to keep in mind when it comes to notices of occurrence:
- Make sure your notice is delivered in written form. Notifying your insurer of an incident via telephone is a great way to start the process, but a written form is the only way to ensure your district has fulfilled its obligations. Without proper notification, your incident may be invalidated.
- The insurance contract contains conditions that outline what your district’s obligations are before, during, and after a loss. After documentation of the damage and preservation of evidence then mitigation of further damage is required.
- Claim forms may ask for specific kinds of information, but a general rule of thumb is to provide your insurer with as much detail as possible. Your insurer will need all of the specifics about the incident, including but not limited to date, time, place, and whether there was police involvement. Try to be succinct and to the point.
- Consider having procedures in place on how to submit a notice of a loss, claim or occurrence.
For more information about these or any topics, do not hesitate to contact us at info@csdpool.org or call 800-318-8870 or contact your broker.
