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Question: Management Software
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Ken,
Do you recommend a good online filing service for alarm accounts or CCTV accounts so that our administration can access files and customer information from anywhere in the world?
Thanks,
Megan
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Answer
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Can anyone offer some advice?
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Question: certificate holder or additional insured
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Ken
We offer an Insurance Certificate to all of our customers that request one proving our level of insurance that we carry. I have a national company that is requiring me to make them an “Additional Insured” instead of just a “Certificate Holder”.
This is my understanding of Additional Insured:
We name NC as an Additional Insured. NC monitors the subscriber. NC contracts us to perform an Annual Fire Test. The store Fire System fails due to a faulty smoke detector in the kitchen and there are hot wires. We note this on our service ticket as well as a phone call to NC that the system has failed and why. More than 2 weeks later NC sends us a new smoke detector and contracts us to go back to the location and repair the device as well as the wires and to retest the system. We do. It passes.
Six months down the road some hairy legged teenager gets goofy with the water hose while on kitchen cleaning duty and soaks the smoke detector that we installed 6 months earlier. Or they hire a trunk slamming painter to go in and give the kitchen a fresh look and he doesn’t cover the smoke detector.
Thirty days later they have a fire in the kitchen and the smoke detector that we installed 7 months earlier does not work.
Due to them being additional insured they go back and see where we performed the work, count it as faulty work by us and hit our insurance policy for a new kitchen.
How far off am I?
Shirley
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Answer
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If you make a mistake and the loss is traced back to that mistake, expect to be responsible. One way to look at the difference between Certificate Holder and Additional Insured is this way: If the damaged party is a Certificate Holder it will sue you directly; your insurance carrier will defend and indemnify you. If the damaged party is an additional insured it will look directly to your insurance carrier for indemnity. Your carrier will have responsible only if you are responsible. Your carrier should not become the primary carrier for a loss suffered by the Additional Insured for just any reason; it's your policy and you have to be responsible. Having said that, you could agree to make your policy primary for an Additional Insured, and you don't want to do that. That would be almost as dumb as agreeing to indemnify a subscriber [or vertical vendor] for any loss on the job, even if caused by other trades on the job [yes you can find that in some form agreements].
You can readily agree to provide Certificate Holder certificates, especially if your carrier or broker doesn't charge you to issue them. You should agree to Additional Insured only when you are desparte for the work or the retaining the relationship; otherwise pass, and don't make it a habit of offering Additional Insured certificates.
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Alarm Association of Greater St. Louis. September 16, 2014. at Tech Electronics HQs office at 6437 Manchester Ave, St. Louis, MO 63139. Meeting is from 11:45 – 1:30 Video conference presentation starting at 12:15 CST. For more information or to register contact Tony Drago adrago@tyco.com www.alarmstl.org
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NYSESA - September 17, 2014 at Honor's Haven Resort, Ellenville, NY. This is the NYS Electronic Security Assoc annual meeting. Presentation on updated contracts and current legal issues will be at 10:30 AM. For more information or reservations contact Dale R. Eller, Executive Director (814) 838-0301 dalereller@itzsolutions.com
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Alabama Alarm Association. AAA's Fall Meeting and Trade Show - October 21, 2014 from 3 to 5 PM at DoubleTree Hotel 808 South 20th Street Birmingham, AL 35205 for more info contact AAA Executive Director: director@alabamaalarm.org (205) 933-9000
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Electronic Security Summit for 2014. October 22-24, 2014 at the landmark Broadmoor Hotel. Colorado Springs, CO. For more information contact Alexander J. Quirin, CEO & Managing Partner, Advisory Summit Providers, LLC., (786) 999-9738 alex.quirin@aspsummits.com www.aspsummits.com
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