FM Global has broken ground on an industry-first training centre in Singapore which is set to boost disaster resilience in the region.
The S$80 million development will house the company’s first hands-on training facility in Asia and will aim to bolster loss prevention and disaster resilience across the region.
The FM Global Asia Sim
Zone will be located in Singapore Science Park and Thomas Lawson, president and CEO of FM Global, told
Insurance Business that the state-of-the-art facility will help boost education and resilience throughout the region.
“Asia has a great opportunity for more robust risk management practices on par with other parts of the world,” Lawson said.
“We hope the centre will benefit Asia and its trading partners around the world in a way which will lead to mutually beneficial collaboration going forward, including partnerships with institutes and governments.”
Lawson said that the new facility “represents a huge investment in the region,” and Singapore was a “natural home” as the Government backs resilience against disasters.
“It will provide hands-on loss prevention education, at no cost, based on our scientific research capability, engineering expertise and property risk management knowledge,” Lawson continued.
“Building designers, contractors, students, educational institutes, brokers, government officials and our clients who visit the Asia Sim
Zone will develop a deeper understanding of how local hazards can be mitigated, increase their appreciation for resilience in the region and how they can reduce property risk exposure.
“It’s about a collective partnership in prevention.”
With areas across Asia subjected to natural disaster throughout the year, Lawson said that the Asia Sim
Zone will have a big impact on the regional insurance industry.
“…locally it’s often hard to come by sound loss prevention practices to deal with construction or fire risk and therefore businesses are not always operating at the highest possible standards of risk management,” Lawson said.
“With these challenges, companies in Asia are hungry to be resilient because they are increasingly seeing its connection to positive business performance.
“Likewise, we believe that striving to make buildings well protected and resilient leads to business continuity and the resilience of economies that can withstand exposures, losses and disruptions.”
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