Catalyst claims team inundated with knowledge at flood school

Claims handlers at Catalyst Services UK went back to school  as part of their insurance apprenticeships – a school with a difference that regularly suffers serious flooding.

The three colleagues – Louise Shepherd, Dominic Weiss and Damian Elder – attended the National Flood School as an  element of their Chartered Institute of Insurance Apprenticeships.

It was the first time Wiser Academy, which runs the apprenticeship programme, had taken delegates to the facility to give them a deep dive insight into flooding causes and solutions.

Strong focus on training

Catalyst Managing Director Brad Jackson said: “The National Flood School has excellent facilities to show how flooding occurs, what damage they can do, and the effort needed to clean them up.

“It also demonstrates latest measures to protect properties against flooding. But the best bit is that it can actually cause floods in a building to get learning points across. That’s quite powerful.”

The Catalyst colleagues are half way through their apprenticeships. Their studies reflects the continued strong emphasis the company places on learning and training so its teams can give insurance clients and claims customers the best advice and service.

While at the National Flood School in Wallingford, Berkshire, they watched a demonstration of a household kitchen being flooded, then helped clean up the flood water, and found that wearing wellies is a great help when tackling floodwater.

Valuable claims insights

They were also shown a range of equipment and technologies, including thermal imaging, to detect water leaks in pipes, which are the most common cause of internal flooding, plus equipment and processes for rehabilitating buildings impacted by floods.

The National Flood School can demonstrate leaks from ceilings and walls, and the latest structural designs, materials and technologies that build extra flood resilience into homes and commercial properties.

Catalyst  Client Operations Manager Ami Beveridge said: “These insights are very valuable for our claims handlers because our insurance clients are increasingly keen to build resilience into claims responses.

“Properties at greater risk of flooding can then be protected more effectively, or they can recover more quickly at less cost after future floods. Premium costs are also minimised for insurance customers.”

Catalyst is a leading provider of belowground investigation, maintenance and repair and emergency response services to the insurance, loss adjusting and property management sectors.

It specialises in drainage, off-mains drainage, water supply pipe, leak detection, subsidence investigation and monitoring, and home emergency response.

Catalyst also delivers training, through its own Catalyst Training Academy, delivering familiarisation courses based on its service portfolio, in particular for insurance and loss adjusting specialists.

Its service areas include drainage, off-mains drainage, leak detection, subsidence investigation, water supply pipes and home emergency response.

Find out more

Talk to Catalyst about its leak detection and drainage services – plus the company’s own courses, delivered through the Catalyst Training Academy.

Telephone: 0333 004 8008. Email: [email protected].