Contractors can now record essential safety work to buildings with flammable cladding and insulation using body cameras that AXA UK will provide, according to a news release.
In 2017, the danger of flammable cladding was highlighted following the fire that broke out in the high-rise Grenfell Tower, which was started by an electrical fault in a refrigerator. The lack of records of the materials used in the construction of multi-occupancy buildings became a major setback in identifying those that could be affected and what needs to be replaced.
To address these concerns, some of AXA UK’s customers’ properties now require remediation to make them safer and more resilient to fire. Recordings captured by contractors using the provided body cameras will present more information about materials used alongside evidence of working practices and site management for the areas being refurbished.
AXA UK will provide their contractors Motorola Solutions VT100 body cameras when responding to incidents. The videos being captured can be live streamed if required for ease in liaising directly with AXA risk engineers. All recordings will be stored using secure cloud technology to ensure material captured cannot be edited or tampered with.
“We decided to use this cutting-edge technology to record evidence of the remediation work and securely store it in the cloud for reference. Our Business Resilience Team has been capturing videos of commercial risks in this way for the past three years for underwriters to review, so it made sense to extend this practice to these building remediations. It means underwriters can clearly see what’s been done when they assess risk and provide a quote with confidence, both now and in the future,” said Dougie Barnett, director of customer risk management at AXA Commercial.
“We are funding this initiative to protect our customers and ensure the work is carried out to the required standard using the correct materials. We’ll also have evidence of how protection systems such as sprinklers and alarms are installed, with this weekly video capture supplementing our regular visits to individual sites. When the work is completed, it should result in the remediated buildings being an improved risk, which will have a positive impact on policy premiums, so it’s important for everyone involved in the process to have a clear view of what’s happening.”
“Body cameras are proving to be an increasingly useful tool across a variety of industry sectors and use cases,” said Fergus Mayne, UK and Ireland country manager at Motorola Solutions. “By providing an objective record of events which can be easily captured, stored and utilised, body cameras are helping organisations to operate more effectively and provide value to their customers.”
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