Cover the explosions
The explosion reported to have occurred at Adoagyiri in the Eastern Region of Ghana a couple of weeks ago is still leaving many people in awe as to how this could happen and what compensations are there for those affected.
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A death and many injuries of varying degrees were also reported. Not to talk of the many structural defects to buildings in and around the ‘explosion area’.
There seem to be some inexplicable fears arising out of the many unfortunate incidences of gas explosions, lately, and their devastating effects including injuries, loss of property and lives in the country.
The not-too-recent report of gas explosion in Tema, involving a premises used for ‘tie-dye’ business, is still on our subconscious minds.
Our immediate reactions
The thrust is that when these disasters occur, our immediate attention is drawn to the loss of property and lives. Often, people grimace at the charred images of the deceased or the injured, as they are shown on our sets and on the front pages of our newspapers.
The next line of attention is to call on the government (or its agencies) for some intervention including compensation to the bereaved families and aid to those who lost their properties.
In all of these, the all-important question of whether the victims had any insurance, from which they could make a claim, is completely lost on everyone.
The essence of this article is, therefore, to situate the unfortunate Adoagyiri explosion following the analysis on the Tema explosion in the context of insurance published some time in 2014 in this same Column, to draw attention to whom and what could have been covered for an insurance claim.
Explosion explained
In an attempt not to delve too deeply into the proximate cause of the Adoagyiri explosion, an explosion can be described as a very rapid reaction, mostly chemical in nature, but can be electrical (lightning) or thermonuclear. The reaction often produces heat resulting in rapid expansion of gases and/or other particles.
The shock waves from explosions are usually responsible for the physical destructions leading to immediate loss of property and lives.
Explosion versus insurance
Primarily, lightening, explosion and fire constitute fire insurance. While explosion insurance is often targeted at commercial interests and industries, it can also apply to residential homeowners. Many homeowners’ insurance policies will cover explosions under the category of fire losses.
Explosion, in relation to home insurance, covers domestic gas and/or propane cylinders. This is generally a part of the standard fire insurance, which only covers the damage caused by fire or lightning.
On the flip side, however, industrial or unlimited explosion insurance covers commercial entities that use steam boilers and pressure vessels in their activities.
Explosion in property insurance
Property insurance provides protection against most risks that are likely to affect insured property. These are often caused by events such as fire, lightning, explosions and impact.
Modern insurance has revolutionised this to include theft and other specialised forms of insurance such as sewage backup, flood, earthquake, home and boiler insurance packages.
In the context of Adoagyiri
As far as insurance is concerned, this explosion would ordinarily be covered under the basic fire and allied perils cover and due compensation paid to the victims. One thing remains clear but one may be disappointed at this conclusion that the stone quarry allegedly being an abandoned one was not likely to have an insurance cover in force.
What remains uncertain is whether the insurers of the quarry (if any), used for commercial purposes, would have extended any form of compensations to the other affected houses and the life lost and perhaps the injuries sustained.
In this case, the one who could be held liable for compensation is the owner of the quarry. Assuming the owner had domestic insurance cover and not commercial, no claims could be paid under the circumstance.
The situation could, however, be different if their insurer was notified about the use the break in the use of the facility for business and the appropriated underwriting was done.
Just as in any other lines of insurance, in fire insurance, liability could only be borne after investigations have been duly carried out.
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Cases of arson or anything close to that need to be established in order to avoid fraudulent claims before any form of indemnity is taken care of.
Third party indemnity
If the affected neighbours had homeowners’ comprehensive cover, they would have been covered by their own policy. The bulk of medical expenses resulting from such explosions under normal circumstances should be covered by the medical insurance; in this case, the victims may not have to pay significant amounts of money from their own pockets for treatment.
If for any reason the victims do not have active health insurance cover, they may have to take care of a substantial portion of their treatment cost before getting any benefits from the insurer of the ‘exploded’ quarry.
Thus, the exact source of healthcare payments will depend on the circumstances surrounding the explosion, that is, if an adequate comprehensive policy has been taken.
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