Valuable Papers Coverage: It’s More Important Than You Think

Unlike the rest of the restoration industry, the document recovery and reclamation segment lacks standardization. There is no universal system like Exactimate or Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration (IIRC) certification. The processes for treating damaged documents, and the rates charged for those services vary greatly. However, the best document recovery contractors do follow very specific guidelines and practices.

Recovering Valuable Papers

Damaged documents must be stabilized quickly to minimize and avoid additional damage and prevent other problems. During and following a water loss a standard letter/legal sized box can absorb and retain several gallons of water. Such saturation threatens the integrity of the documents and significantly thwarts mitigation efforts to the structure. Saturated documents reduce the effectiveness of dehumidification efforts and provide a source for microbial growth. To prevent these problems and other unnecessary expense, damaged documents should be removed as quickly as possible and blast frozen to arrest the bleeding of ink and microbial growth.

Once stabilized, the documents must be dried. Although there are a variety of document drying systems, vacuum freeze drying and desiccant drying are the most widely used. Each process has distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Vacuum freeze drying will result in a less wrinkled finished product and is generally preferred for books and clay-coated paper. However, vacuum freeze dry chambers are comparatively small; companies using this system exclusively can develop significant backlog following major loss events.

Desiccant drying is an expandable system. Several thousand boxes of documents can be processed at once, allowing for faster turnaround and reducing business interruption. However, desiccant drying will cause documents to expand; use by unqualified vendors may have horrible results.

Even after drying, documents may require some level of secondary care. Gamma irradiation may be required to combat bio-hazardous contamination; debris, mold, or soot may need to be cleaned from the surface; reproduction or imaging maybe required; and so on. The damage and the needs of the client determine the appropriate next steps.

The Big Questions

Does the client’s property policy provide the necessary protection? Probably not; rarely is coverage extended to include reproduction or imaging services. A valuable papers endorsement is likely required to provide the necessary protection.

How is the proper coverage determined? The answer is client-driven; because the needs of every business are different. A law firm or medical facility may require reproduction of damaged files for credible interaction with their client base, necessitating a high coverage limit. An auto parts supply store may only require drying of archived receipts, requiring a lower coverage limit.

The No-Cost, No-Pain Solution

Step 1 – Develop a relationship with a qualified document recovery firm. This is a mutually beneficial relationship; the recovery firm may earn business, and the agency has access to the knowledge of document recovery experts to help them explain and develop the need for protection. But be careful in making your selection, thousands of restoration contractors offer document recovery services but only a relative few actually perform the service in-house. Build your relationship with a trained professional rather than a “general contractor.”

Step 2 — Include the document restoration specialist in meetings with your clients/prospects. Although determining the exact cost to recover from a total document loss is impossible because of all the possible variables, an assessment by a qualified document specialist can produce hypothetical scenarios that give a maximal range to dry or reproduce a given quantity of documents. The client must then make a decision and decide how much coverage to purchase.

Step 3 — Ask, “Do you have any damaged documents?” If the answer is yes, you have everything in place to respond appropriately and swiftly. Aside from the benefits to the client of reduced business interruption and higher levels of satisfaction, these simple preparations can reduce a medium-sized claim by thousands if not tens of thousands.

As a former producer, I know that standard valuable papers coverage limits can be dramatically insufficient. In order to provide better service to the insured and protect against errors and omissions claims, every insurance professional should place greater value in the valuable papers extension.