CPCU 551: Chapter 1

  1. How does the engineering approach to risk control differ from the human behavior approach?
    The engineering approach involves the design and location of properties and equipment to reduce physical hazards. The human behavior approach works towards modifying personnel behavior to reduce the frequency of unsafe acts.
  2. What three elements create a fire?
    An initial heat source, oxygen, and fuel are required to have a fire.
  3. What are the four types of energy that can create heat sufficient to cause a fire?
    • 1) Electrical heat energy from natural or artificial sources
    • 2) Chemical heat energy realeased as a part of a chemical reaction
    • 3) Mechanical or frictional heat ennergy
    • 4) Nuclear heat energy released by nuclear fission or fusion
  4. How could knowing the flash point of a liquid help in fire control efforts?
    Knowing the temperature at which a liquid releases combustible vapors (the flash point) allows for proper selection of materials for the working environment and proper storage of materials within the environment.
  5. How does the type of building construction affect an estimate of fire load?
    Because fire load includes combustible parts of a building, any estimate of fire load should considee the type of building construction.
  6. How does frame construction differ from joisted masonry construction?
    In both frame and joisted masonry construction, beams, joists, and floors are made of wood. In frame construcion, exterior walls are constructed of wood or combustible materials, while in joisted masonry, exterior walls are constructed of noncombustible masonry materials.
  7. Compare noncombustible construction with fire-resistive construction.
    Noncombustible construction and fire-resistive construction both consist of exterior walls, floors, and roofs constructed of and supported by noncombustible material that will not add fuel to a fire. However, noncombustible construction can be extremely susceptible to heat, whereas fire-resistive construction uses materials that will resist heat for longer periods of time.
  8. List two methods for controlling unwanted heat by-products.
    • 1) Using flourescent lightbulbs rather than incandescent light bulbs
    • 2) Using low-friction machinery
    • 3) Dissipating heat energy with a cooling process
    • 4) Controlling the release of electrical energy with fuses or circuit breakers
  9. Why are mobile planned heat sources more difficult to control than fixed planned sources?
    Mobile heat sources are more difficult to control than fixed sources because mobile heat sources, by being moved, create constantly changing exposures. Additionally, operators of mobile property may be less likey to take precautions because of this constantly changing environment.
  10. Describe four building design features (in addition to sprinkler systems) that can limit the vertical or horizontal spread of fire within a single fire division.
    • 1. filling service-line openings with noncombustible material
    • 2. providing dampers to stop the spread of fire and smoke
    • 3. filling interior spaces in hollow walls and floors
    • 4. using fire stops
    • 5. venting attics and roofs
    • 6. using metal farmed or wired-flass windows
    • 7. staggering windows to prevent "looping" of fire between floors
    • 8. building unbroken walls (no windows or door ways)
    • 9. Installing fire doors
  11. Describe two ways of creating seperate fire divisions.
    • 1) Building fire walls that extend the full width and height of a building
    • 2) Creating a clean outdoor open space to sperate two buildings
  12. What measure can help to control arson loss caused by outsiders?
    • 1. Reducing entrance opportunities
    • 2. Providing quick detection of intruder entry
    • 3. Installing tamper-resistant security and sprinkler devices
    • 4. Hiring a guard service
  13. What components are found in any type of sprinkler system?
    • 1. Piping with discharging nozzles or heads
    • 2. Control valves for directing extinguishant within the system
    • 3. Gauges for monitoring pressure within the system
    • 4. Alarm devices to signal when the system becomes operative
  14. What are the advantages of using a wet chemical system over a dry chemical system?
    • 1. The foam used by a wet chemical system forms a barrier between the liquid fuel and the oxygen
    • 2. The foam helps prevent further release of flammable vapors by lowering the fuel's temperature below its flash point
    • 3. Wet chemical agents are safer to use than dry pwoder
    • 4. Wet chemical agents are easier to clean up than dry powder
  15. Why should a pre-alarm signal be used with a carbon dioxide system?
    Carbon dioxide displaces oxygen in the air to smother fire. The diplacement of oxygen can be deadly to people. A pre-alarm signal alerts people that they need to evacuate.
  16. List six ways that automatic detection devices are activated.
    • Automatic detection devices respond to and are activated by:
    • 1) the temperture level
    • 2) the rate of temperature rise
    • 3) the presence of smoke particles
    • 4) the presence of flames
    • 5) changes in gas content in the air
    • 6) combo of the above
  17. Name the five categories used to classify automatic signaling systems.
    Automatic signaling systems are classified as local, auxiliary, remote station, proprietary, or central station.
  18. What actions to mitigate fire loss can be taken after a hostile fire has been put out?
    Property losses can be minimized by good salvage techniques, and business interruption losses can be minimized by the use of alternative resources by expediting repairs.
  19. How, generally, do the severity and frequency of theft losses differ from the severity and frequency of fire loss?
    Theft losses tend to be less severe but more frequent than fire losses.
  20. Identify physical protection measures that can prevent or delay burglars from gaining access to the property they want to take.
    Physical protection against burglars includes the use of passive restraints to entry (locks, gates, bars, unbreakable glass) and secured storage areas (safes and vaults).
  21. Describe four kinds of burglar alarm systems and the protection they provide.
    • 1. a perimeter system signals an alarm whenever unauthorized entry is made into the building.
    • 2. an area or space protection system is ismilar to a perimeter system but protects only specifc areas in a facility
    • 3. an ibject protection system is configured to protect specific objects likely to be targeted by burglars
    • 4. a holdup alrm system can be trigered by a foot pedal or button pressed by a bank teller or store clerk during a robbery to send an alrm signal to a central station company or the police.
  22. What are some possible deficiencies of burglar alarm systems?
    • Possible defficiencies of burglar alarms include:
    • 1. Hold up alarms may compromise employee safety
    • 2. false alarms can lead to hesitancy to respond
    • 3. alarms do not stop burglars but merely reduce their operating time
    • 4. telephone lines that transmit alarms to a police station may be accidentally or intentionally interrupted.
  23. Why do the strategies and methods of risk control for employee theft differ from those needed for outside theft?
    Risk control methods for employee theft differ because employees are already on the premises an already have valuable items in their care.
  24. Identify two categories of low-trust measures to control employee dishonesty, and give an example of each.
    • Two categories of low trust employee security measures are:
    • 1. accounting controls (such as requiring certain procedures or performing audits)
    • 2. access controls (such as establishing levels of acccess and seperating duties)
  25. How can seperation of duties deter emloyee theft?
    • Seperation of duties can make employee theft less likely because
    • 1. no individual has totoal control of a job or project
    • 2. work flows allow for checks
    • 3. those who authorize assets do not control their custody
    • 4. record keeping is kept seperate from those who control assets.
  26. How does explosion control differ from control of fires with slower combustion?
    Explosion controls have less time to react, so they must have a rapid and powerful response.
  27. Describe building design features that can help to resist each of the following:
    a. Windstorm Damage
    b. Earthquake Damage
    • a. Design features that resist wndstorm include buildings and outdoor structures that withstand anticipated wind loads, storm shutters and blinds rated for high wind loads, and adequate roof and wall systems.
    • b. Design features that resst earthquake include rigid structure with walls; columns, and pillars teid securely to floors and roofs by horizontal, vertical, and cross members carried through to the foundations. Some buildings are constructed to sway with an earthquake, thereby absorbing the force exerted during an earthquake.
  28. For each the following properties, recommend a type of spriklet system that would be especially appropriate and explain how that type of system works.
    a. An unheated furniture warehouse in minnesota.
    b. A heated warehouse that contains a product that could ignite faster than conventional sprinkler head can open.
    c. Aircraft while being stored in a hangar
    d. The cooking areas in a restaurants kitchen.
    • a. Dry pipe: piping is filled with air under pressure, preventing the pipes from freezing and bursting in an unheated space.
    • b. Deluge system: all sprinkler heads remain open so that water release is immediate.
    • c. Water spray: directional nozzles direct water toward the objects in need of protection.
    • d. Wet chemical system: Placed directly over cooking equipment, the system discharges a wet chemical, or foam, that is effective in extinguishing grease fires.
  29. The Bardsworth Library has an extensive collection that includes many rare books and irreplaceable manuscripts. the collection is hopused in a joisted masonry building that has three stories above ground level, as well as a basement. The basement houses administrative offices, a bindery, and a security enclosure for the most valuable objects in the collection.
    the board of trustees of the library has decided to install an automatic sprinkler system, despite the library curtor's eroneous belief that discharge from the syster poses a greater risk to the collectoin than fire does. recommend various measures that could be taken to prevent or reduce water damage to the collection if the sprinkler system were to discharge.
    • Water damage from the system can be prevented by
    • 1. Using sprinkler heads that will not respond to ambient temperatures produced by normal operations.
    • 2. Placing guards on vulnerable sprinkler heads to prevent accidental damage
    • 3. using special heads that automatically shut off when the temperature cools
    • 4. using a preaction sprinkler system
    • 5. training crews to respond quickly with waterproof covers
    • 6. keeping the most valuable property on upper floors
    • 7. having a disaster plan in effect for obtaining pompt restoration services for any smoke or water damaged objects in the collection.
  30. Personal Warehouse Company (PWC) owns storage modules that it rents to the general public. Describe several measures that PWC could implement to prevent or reduce theft losses of renters' property in the storage modules.
    • PWC could prevent or reduce theft losses by:
    • 1. building windowless modules
    • 2. installing locks on storage modules
    • 3. using perimeter fencing
    • 4. installing an alarm system on the property's perimeter
    • 5. using video surveillance
    • 6. limiting access to keys to storage modules
    • 7. screening employees
    • 8. using access controls to minimize opportunities for theft by employees
Card Set
CPCU 551: Chapter 1
CPCU 551: Commercial Property Risk Management and Insurance, Chapter 1: Commercial Property Risk Control