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MEDIA RELEASE
Over the past 12 months in Australia, there have been many suspected serious arson attacks against various houses of worship, some of these have included the historic Uniting Church in Ocean Grove VIC, Garden City Mosque in Toowoomba QLD and St Jude’s in Carlton VIC. Ansvar Insurance, Australia’s leading insurance provider for the Care, Community, Education, Faith and Heritage sectors recommends organisations consider a number of key measures when protecting their properties.
A common challenge for many Faith organisations is the accurate valuation of their properties. It is often not until a devastating event like a fire occurs that a house of worship’s value is truly determined. When properties aren’t insured for their full replacement value it creates a serious financial burden for the Faith organisation. A professional assessment to determine the true value of the property can provide peace of mind. During 2014 Ansvar clients experienced fire losses on places of worship exceeding $10 million dollars of which the majority of properties had been under-insured.
What makes these fires particularly devastating beyond the damage to the physical building can be the loss of what Ansvar calls the “heritage overlay.” Many houses of worship contain stained glass, specialist stone masonry work, religious artifacts and heritage protected roofing. This requires specialist materials and specialist contractors approved to work on heritage buildings, and can cause significant delays in rebuilding.
“Unfortunately arson attacks on churches and places of worship are on the rise in Australia. In light of these attacks, it is sound business practice that all places of worship take every measure to protect themselves from the threat of arson,” says David Davies, Ansvar’s Head of Risk Solutions. “Arson is a deliberate and frightening reality and places of worship can be easy targets with devastating results.” says Davies.
As a leading specialist insurer to the Australian Faith community, Ansvar has considerable experience and in-depth knowledge of risk mitigation and the prevention of arson.
Mr Davies and the Ansvar Risk Solutions team recommend the following preventative steps to help deter would-be arsonists and/or thieves:
In addition to these measures, Ansvar can provide its Faith clients with a Risk Survey focusing on all the potential hazards and provide peace of mind to both client and provider.
To download a copy of Ansvar Insurance’s arson prevention white paper entitled, “Protect Your Place of Worship. Understand, Manage and Reduce the Risk of Arson”, please visit /risky-business/downloads-worksheets-resources/