Drones Tapped To Improve Risk Management

Drones have been deployed by insurers and risk managers for several years to better assess risks, respond to catastrophes and improve claims efficiency.

But as other technological tools have become more widely available, businesses and insurers are using the unmanned aircraft systems in more targeted ways to collect data and to mitigate risk, experts say.

Agriculture, construction, real estate and specialty lines are just some of the insurance industry sectors where drones are improving risk management practices, they said.

More than 70 crop adjusters at Rural Community Insurance Services Inc., the crop insurance business of Zurich North America, are certified drone pilots, said Sam Arocho, procedural case manager at RCIS, who is based in Loxahatchee, Florida.

Instead of underwriters and adjusters walking through orchards to inspect crops of apples, peaches and pecans, drones provide aerial views of large tracts of land to determine whether a farming practice is a good underwriting risk and to provide risk control recommendations to policyholders, he said.