Harrington Group was retained to provide property loss control services for a single manufacturing facility located in Hampton, Georgia, producing electric power distribution equipment. The HPR property insurance carrier issued a letter to the client through their insurance broker, containing among other things a list of Property Loss Control recommendations. One of these was presented as mandatory and the client given 90 days to comply. Failure to comply would have resulted in cancellation of insurance. The insurance carrier stated that the public water supply to the facility was insufficient to meet the fire protection water needs, and recommended the existing 6 in. water main connecting the plant to the public water storage tank be replaced with an 8 in. main. Estimates indicated this would cost approximately $60,000.

Harrington Group’s property loss control services included performing water tests at the plant and evaluation of the private water supply facilities. A hazard analysis was also conducted to determine the required fire protection water demand. We obtained a copy of the insurance carrier’s water supply analysis and determined that private water supplies were available in sufficient quantity and reliability so that a connection to the public supply was unnecessary. The hazards within the plant were of relatively low severity. One existing private elevated gravity tank was of sufficient capacity and reliability to satisfy the automatic sprinkler system water demand for the needed duration. Supplementing this was a private fire pump taking suction from an open water reservoir. Even if this fire pump were out of service, the fire department could draft from the open reservoir to meet the hose stream requirements. We met with representatives from the insurance carrier and negotiated these points on behalf of the client. The insurance carrier concurred with the validity of our water supply analysis and agreed to waive the requirement of replacing the city water main.

Value Delivered

Careful analysis of existing conditions, focused by a strong desire to find a cost-effective solution, revealed that existing private water supply facilities adequately served the plant’s fire protection needs. The insurance carrier’s requirement to replace a city water main was waived, saving about $60,000.

By Jeff Harrington, CEO and Founder of Harrington Group, Inc.