When subrogation potential exists, recovering large losses isimperative to a carrier's bottom line. Yet often these losses canpresent the most challenges to subrogation efforts.

In fire claims, for instance, successful subrogation requiresfire scene preservation and the recovery of physical evidence fromsuspected areas of origin.

But what if extensive damages have created a hazardous scene forinvestigators? Structural collapses caused by fires, explosions orother weather-related perils can make access to important areas ofa scene impossible. When structural integrity is compromised, themost commonly-employed solutions to accessing and retrievingevidence are costly and time consuming.

That's where robotic technology has changed the outlook ofsubrogation for these losses. Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs), suchas Donan's military-grade robot Scio Surveyor 7, are creatingopportunities to subrogate losses even when access to a property isimpeded or impossible. This innovative solution can be deployedimmediately to document evidence before the scene is altered, andoffers substantial cost savings to traditional crane and demolitionefforts utilized to reach inaccessible areas.

Donan's robot has been deployed across the country in commercialand industrial fire losses where structural integrity wascompromised. Scio Surveyor 7 streams video as it navigates a scene,captures photos, and can remove physical evidence. This intelprovides two essential insights to carriers and investigators: theability to identify subrogation potential, and the ability to ruleit out.

Identifying Hotspots

In July, Scio Surveyor 7 aided the Louisville Fire Department intheir investigation of a massive fire that broke out on historicWest Main Street in downtown Louisville, Ky. Named “Whiskey Row,”these buildings are the second largest collection of cast-ironfacades in the U.S. — second only to New York City's SoHo district.Portions of the buildings collapsed and it was unsafe for anyone toenter. The robot was able to access the building and record HDimagery as well as stream real-time video from four cameras to theinvestigators. Scio also identified hotspots and captured imagesfrom the area of origin. This enabled investigators to confirm thesuspected cause of loss was sparks produced by cutting tools usedby crews as part of the historic buildings' restorationefforts.

“This technology is really changing the way these investigationstake place, and providing more opportunity to pursue subrogationbecause we're able to collect information that would've beenimpossible before. Traditionally, if there's a roof collapse, acrane might be utilized to demolish a building piece by piece toget to an area of interest. But with Scio, we can access the scenewithin hours or days of the loss and collect the necessaryevidence,” said Matthew Kenney, P.E., CFEI, Donan's technicalprogram manager.

Robot versus Crane

In Pine Bluff, Ark., Scio was deployed during an industrial fireinvestigation in order to access the suspected area of originlocated in a collapse zone. Video and images captured by the robotprovided 360-degree views of the fire scene and gave the carrier aclearer understanding of the fire scene as a whole. Prior todeploying the robot, the carrier planned to utilize a crane toremove the roof and gain better access to the site.

“The robot was a nondestructive alternative that couldpotentially identify a specific area of focus or eliminate the needfor a crane altogether,” explained Jim Caton, IAAI-CFI, CFEI, CVFI,Donan senior fire investigator. Visual evidence showed littlepotential for successful subrogation due to the extent of thedamage, the presence of numerous combustible materials andchemicals, and the age of the equipment in the area of origin.Insights provided by the robot's data eliminated the need for thecrane deployment, saving substantial costs and time.

Ground-breaking technology like Scio Surveyor 7 promises toimprove subrogation processes and success. Donan leads the industryin a number of innovative solutions to serve carriers' subrogationgoals, as well as all aspects of their claims process. Visitdonan.com to find out more about our innovative tools.

Duane Battcher is the managing director for DONAN.