Copyright 2024 - Ningbo Life / Ningbo Expat

“Insurance + service” explores new path for cultural relic protection against risks

On the early morning of April 16 Beijing time, the Notre Dame De Paris was seriously damage by a big fire. Each artifact is a symbol of culture, and every museum is a treasure house of human civilization. Faced with the difficult problem of protection and risk-prevention of cultural relics, Ningbo Insurance Company has taken the lead in the pilot of comprehensive insurance of cultural relics protection, exploring the new path of risk prevention of cultural relic architecture through the new “insurance + Service” pattern.

The cultural relic architecture is a kind of non-renewable cultural heritage with high historic, artistic and scientific values, so it is important to prevent the risks rather than make the compensations after disasters. There are numerous ancient cultural relics buildings in Ningbo, and to conduct more efficient and professional protection, Ningbo has proposed the “insurance + service” pattern by taking advantage of the city’s construction of the national comprehensive pilot area of insurance innovation, putting the conditions of the cultural relic buildings constantly under supervision of the professional organizations and government administration.

The Former Residence of the Fan Family is the largest existing and best-preserved architecture built in the Ming Dynasty in Ningbo. Because of wood structure and a relatively large visitor flow, there are certain safety hazards and risks. In

November 2018, the architecture was included in the scope of the comprehensive insurance coverage of cultural relic protection in the city, and became the first cultural relics in Zhejiang Province to be covered by the insurance. Besides the traditional property insurance model to make claims for the loss of the residence and the tourists caused by natural disasters and accidents, the insurance has also introduced the new concept of dynamic monitoring services. That is, a third party organization has been commissioned to carry out the dynamic monitoring services with a group of qualified fire engineers and structural engineers, four times a year, in such aspects as electric use, fire fighting facilities, drainage systems, emergency plans and institutional norms. Meanwhile, for the safety of housing structure, the dynamic monitoring report on settlement, tilting, weathering, moth and surrounding environmental impact, etc. will be issued as a reference for the decision making of related government departments.

“The highlight of this kind of insurance is the professional risk monitoring services. With the pre-insurance security risk inquiry and the corresponding accident prevention, the occurrence rate of the risks has been reduced in the first place.” Said a person in charge from the Insurance Department of Ningbo Finance Office. Currently, several cultural relic sites are under negotiation for this kind of insurance and it is for sure that this new pattern of “insurance + service” will become a new road for the risk prevention of cultural relic buildings

f t g m