New Heights, but Some of the Same Lows

New York’s infrastructure is, well, losing its structure.

The $13 billion Gateway rail tunnel project under the Hudson River has lost some of its steam. Taxpayers will pay millions unless the outdated “scaffold law” is repealed. While New York and New Jersey struggle to arrive at a formula for funding,  Gateway is stymied by a law that could add as much as $500 million in insurance costs. The project is a new passenger-rail tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan replacing the two existing ones. That same job and construction-killer law still stands and no one seems able to do anything about it. The law was enacted when the first skyscrapers were built and there were no laws to protect workers. Today, the statute is now at odds with workers’ comp law, with fairness, sanity, and “proportion” as used in modern tort law. It adds huge costs to construction projects, according to the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York. Reports have indicated that insurance costs are so high, disaster relief organizations gave up on helping families affected by Sandy, turning instead to neighboring states. Absolute liability is imposed on these third parties with no limits on damages and no consideration of fault on the part of the worker. Courts have ruled that a worker’s failure to lock the wheels of the scaffold from which he fell is irrelevant in deciding a scaffold law claim. By contrast, modern tort law requires a court to reduce damages if the plaintiff’s own negligence contributed to the injury. It’s high time.… DataWing Global, an aerial data collection company that works with independent drone pilots to help homeowners and insurance companies cover claims, estimates that drone technology could save insurance companies up to 40% during the upcoming storm season. Storm season is fast approaching and costs insurance companies billions of dollars every year. In fact, last year’s Hurricane Harvey, Maria and Irma have already cost the industry at least $14.5 billion, according to annual reports filed by 15 major insurers. Accordingly, to better prepare for 2018’s upcoming storm season, an unprecedented number of insurance businesses have turned to drone technology to record data and help process claims more quickly and cost-effectively. In fact, Goldman Sachs forecasts in their widely covered drone report that the insurance claims drone market represents a total addressable market worth $1.4 billion. Rather than sending out traditional “ladder teams” to closely inspect roofs and other home facilities (which costs around $150 to $250 per inspection), insurance adjusters can sort through two to three times more claims every day by employing trained drone pilots to fly over properties, take pictures, and deliver the data via cloud. Not only is this service roughly 40% cheaper, but it significantly reduces safety related risks, ensuring less people are climbing onto roofs.  DataWing, for one,  streamlines the insurance claims process. Once a homeowner files a claim with his/her insurance company, DataWing will receive and act upon this claim in less than four hours. Within 12 to 18 hours, data will be collected and given to the data analysis team, which then prepares and returns it to the insurance company. DataWing uses SmartSky, an internal scheduling program that gives them eyes on their pilot in the field. This secures a constant communication between DataWing and the pilots, which helps monitor jobs and the pilot’s time availability. It also provides pilots with the tools to input their availability and respond to jobs immediately, which further streamlines the process. DataWing also follows strict compliance standards (background checks, drug tests, airspace checks) when selecting drone pilots to ensure they’re delivering the highest standard of service for their insurance clients and homeowners. Through a robust quality assurance program, DataWing currently manages a large and growing portfolio of certified pilots, operating nationwide. Makes you feel like finding reruns of the Jetson’s on TV. That’s where we are. SA