[BC] Insurance question

[Mike McCarthy]

I have two sites which are suffering this ongoing fate. One of them is a
block building with a steel door and well sealed cable bulkheads and
screened vents. We've spent 10 years hardening the site. The mice come up
through the open cells of the blocks to the unsealed top plate. That is
the next thing we're going to try and seal.

The station in the block building suffered a rather significant loss a few
years ago due to a little thing getting into the plate cavity and creating
a condition where part of the cavity and related parts caught fire. In our
case, we did not receive payment despite the fact we had a fire and had
performed due diligence in controlling the infestation. The cause was
determined to be not related to an act of nature. I was not surprised, nor
was the owner.  But it was worth asking never the less.

Bottom line: Mice are a preventable nuisance and not an act of nature.
Thus, they are not a covered loss. Furthermore, had management seen fit to
direct and have regular site inspections, it's very likely the infestation
could have been discovered and the loss prevented by simple measures
(traps and poison).

What you're describing is a classic case of neglect now coming home to
roost. Pay me now and then for a little work or pay me a lot more later to
fix an emergency.

NOw, that's not to say all-hazards insurance isn't available.  But I
suspect most folks will freak at the premium.

MM

On Wed, July 9, 2014 5:05 pm, Mike Vanhooser
novaelec*sbcglobal.net.INVALID wrote:
> One of my clients just had a transmitter failure due to mice.  They got
> into the high voltage section and blew the rectifiers and shorted the
> plate transformer.  The client had the property insured, and one of the
> covered losses was "Acts of Nature".  The adjuster stated that lightning
> would be covered, but mice weren't.  This is a well made brick building