MATERIAL SOLUTIONS
might be desirable it is not realistic to reach such a goal immediately, even given the political will (which appears currently to be almost non-existent). An achievable goal might be to follow the lead set by France and legislate firstly for every new washing machine to be fitted with a suitable filter on the discharge to drain. When this is achieved might be possible to legislate for every older machine to be retrofitted. The cost per unit should be affordable and would be spread fairly evenly at one per household and only a few per laundry.
We do not yet know how important it will be to clean up the considerable tonnage of plastic micro-particles which we have allowed to accumulate in our oceans and become distributed so widely. However, it is probable that every resident in the developed world has already accumulated multiple contamination of several of their internal organs with micro-plastic particles, so the research into the probable effects of this should take an appropriate (high) priority for the next five years. We live in a world which is struggling to counter the threat of climate change, and which is still studying lessons from our lack of preparedness for a pandemic, but failure to deal with a build-up of micro-plastic contamination in our oceans and in our bodies could mean we face consequences of just the same order. How could we have we allowed this to happen?
Reader query: fire insurance
Richard Neale responds to a reader alert on fire insurance policies, analysing the problem so you don’t get burned
LCNi recently received an e-mail:with a serious warning about fire insurance. “Dear Kathy
Your name was provided by one of your readers who runs several commercial laundries in Great Britain. He thought your readers should be alerted to a problem that lies hidden within their insurance policy document and only surfaces when it is too late. “ I have attached a notification that fully explains the problem. The fire that I refer to is one of several that
I have investigated over many years of investigating fire insurance claims. This would rate among the worst examples of how an insurance company inserts a condition on a commercial and business policy but does not explain what they require from their policy holder to fulfil this policy condition.
“It was only through constant pressure that I obtained from a leading Lloyds insurer a definition of this condition within the policy, and I would like all commercial laundries to be aware of this and protect
Fire insurance policy alert
Fires in commercial laundries are a risk that Insurance Companies will cover, subject to special conditions that are found within the policy wording. These clauses are called Conditions Precedent. A typical wording incorporated in the Policy Schedule of a Commercial Combined Insurance Policy is:
Drycleaning and Laundering: Condition Precedent All items which have undergone any process at the premises are allowed to individually cool fully before piling stacking or packaging. This condition was inserted due to the risk of fires from spontaneous combustion. It
References:
1. ‘One liter of bottled water found to contain 240,000 plastic fragments’. Paper from Columbia Climate School summarised in New Atlas issue Jan 11, 2024. Previously published in PNAS.
2. ‘Heaps of pharmaceuticals and toxic chemicals found in recycled plastics’. Paper from University of Gothenburg, summarised in New Atlas issue dated Nov 10, 2023. Previously published in Science Direct.
3. ‘Microplastics found to alter shape of and de-cluster human lung cells. Paper from Florida State University, summarised in New Atlas issue dated April 19, 2021. Previously published in Chemical Research in Toxicology.
4. ‘Microplastics trigger brain inflammation, found in heart tissue’. Summarised in New Atlas issue dated Aug 9, 2023. Sources: DGIST via Asia Research News, Capital Medical University via American Chemical Society. Previously published Environmental Research and Environmental Science & Technology.
5. ‘A simple process solves the problem of polyester recycling’. Paper from University of Copenhagen, summarised in New Atlas issue dated Aug 6, 2023. Previously published in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.
6. ‘Low temperature degradation of plastics with bacteria and fungi’. Paper from Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, summarised in New Atlas issue dated May 12, 2023. Previously published in Frontiers in Microbiology.
7. Berkely Lab, summarised in New Atlas issue date July 31, 2023. Previously published in Nature Sustainability.
particularly applies to towels that have been used in Spas and Health Clubs, where organicoils are used. Even with the best wash, remnants of the oils remain in the towels and given the right circumstances spontaneous combustion occurs, and a fire ensues. A recent fire in a commercial laundry in the UK caused £1million-worth of damage, although the laundry followed a procedure that is standard within the industry. The insurer denied liability as it claimed the laundry had not complied with the condition precedent. The procedure followed by the laundry had not altered for 20 years. At the end of the drying process there was a preset cooling cycle. The operator then opened the dryer door for10 minutes before removing the towels. This operator had over 18 years’ experience and did not wear gloves, which enabled him to check the towels for dryness and c olness. When this leading Lloyds Syndicate was asked to explain the procedure that they requiredtheir policyholder to follow to ensure compliance with the condition, their reply was impractical and unworkable: “Insurers would expect that in order to comply with policy terms, each item should be
separately removed (or removed and separated) from the machine, checked for heat, left to cool individually (e.g. by hanging the items on a line or rack, or laying out the items on shelving) and then stored appropriately.” If you have a policy which includes a cool down condition which cannot be followed practically, contact your broker urgently because according to the leading Lloyds Underwriter your Insurance Policy will not respond in the event of a similar type of fire.
If you have a problem that you think LTC Worldwide can help with, or that you feel would make a good subject for Material Solutions, please call T: +44 (0)1943 816 545 or E:
enquiries@ltcworldwide.com or W:
www.ltcworldwide.com
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