Intel

Last quarter, we indicated the Property & Casualty (P&C) market had reached a relative level of equilibrium not seen in several years. We defined this as an environment where rates and capacity were relatively stable, and carriers could be profitable. The gradual and consistent shift in business from the admitted to the Excess & Surplus (E&S) market is a transformation…

A three-generation family in Brooklyn, New York, was recently evacuated from their home after city officials determined the building next door was unstable and would need to be demolished. The homeowner, Yvonne Belardo, was notified by firefighters on Sept. 5 that her three-story Bushwick home was at risk because of a construction error at a building site two doors down,…

Work-related fatalities at New York City building construction sites reached their lowest point in almost 10 years in 2023, according to new data from the city, but work-related injuries jumped 25%, Safety+Health magazine reported on May 23. The Department of Buildings\' annual Construction Safety Report indicated that there were 841 building construction-related incidents, 692 injuries and…

Following several years of double-digit rate increases and restrictive adjustments to Terms and Conditions (T&C), the Property Insurance sector has reached a point of relative stability. Rates are largely modest as insurers secure the required premium, now applying rates against a proper exposure basis—Insurance to Value (ITV). With few exceptions of traditional CAT-prone perils in specific geographies, most carriers are…

Home building costs are continuing to rise in the U.S. and Canada. In San Jose, California, construction costs have reached record highs as builders deal with increased costs and high interest rates, Newsweek recently reported. Many would-be homeowners are priced out of the market, while some home builders have turned to designing smaller houses so more buyers can afford them.…

A construction crane accident in New York City tragically injured 11 individuals and shut down traffic July 26 after the crane burst into flames 45 stories above ground. The top portion of the crane, which was lifting 16 tons of concrete at the time as it worked on a 54-story building in Midtown Manhattan, struck a neighboring building as it…

A 30-year-old woman was sent to the hospital and listed in critical condition after a concrete slab from an apartment building facade broke off and struck her in the head while she walked down the sidewalk in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in early February. Contractors were reportedly working on the building when the concrete slab and debris fell from about two stories…

2022 was a year that few in the Property and Casualty (P&C) sector could have predicted. Instead of stability, the market remained largely volatile, especially in the Property sector and the reinsurance marketplace. Many carriers suffered through unprofitable years thanks to Hurricane Ian, inflation, and an adverse property insurance environment primarily in Florida and Gulf coast states. Above all, losses…

Two separate construction accidents in Boston recently caused a stoppage on projects by the region’s largest construction company. According to reports, Suffolk Construction halted work at multiple job sites on May 6 in order to “reinforce safety awareness” after multiple workers were hurt when a former power plant under construction collapsed May 4, followed by an accident at another job…

A fire that destroyed much of a historic country club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, may have been started by construction work involving a propane torch, new video footage suggests. The Feb. 17 blaze at Oakland Hills Country Club caused an estimated $80 million in damage to the clubhouse and was a near “total loss,” according to reports. Video recovered from…

Cleanup and investigation efforts are underway at the site of the Forbes Avenue Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after the bridge collapsed on Jan. 28. A city bus and several other vehicles were on the bridge when it came crashing down, injuring 10 individuals in a terrifying ordeal that left motorists fearing for their lives. The 447-foot bridge, which was built…

Two workers narrowly avoided serious injuries after being thrown from horizontal metal beams at a construction site on the Boston University campus May 14. The accident happened when a steel column fell to the side, causing the adjacent beams to topple “like dominoes” and partially collapse the steel frame of what is slated to become a 13-story data sciences building…