Reducing claims before they happen
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How proactive risk control strengthens customer resilience
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Intact Insurance is Canada’s largest home, auto, and business insurance company, the choice of more than four million consumers. Its coast-to-coast presence and its strong relationship with insurance brokers mean the company can provide the outstanding service, comfort, and continuity customers deserve. Intact Insurance is a member company of Intact Financial Corporation (TSX: IFC), the largest provider of property and casualty insurance in Canada and a leading provider of specialty insurance in North America.
Fast, experienced support: Intact leads the way
Canadians choose Intact
“Our risk-control team is one of the largest in the Canadian market, serving commercial and speciality lines customers, spanning risks of all different shapes and sizes”
Bill Bennett,
Intact Insurance
“One of our priorities is to explore ways we can reach more customers to provide risk insights – helping them identify and mitigate the risks they are facing on a day-to-day basis”
Yan Lacoursière,
Intact Insurance
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Intact is concentrating on the emerging risks that reflect shifting climates, new technologies, and evolving industry patterns. Lacoursière told IB that the risk landscape is constantly shifting with the impacts of climate change, electrification, AI, and much more.
“One of our priorities is to explore ways we can reach more customers to provide risk insights – helping them identify and mitigate the risks they are facing on a day-to-day basis. The customer is always at the centre of everything we do,” Lacoursière explained.
“As the world moves faster, with incredible advances in technology, our risk-control team remains committed to helping customers identify and manage their risks,” added Bennett. “Our handshake with customers is our priority. It’s a true partnership.”
Drones are a good example here too. Intact’s use of aerial photography and aerial video work allows them to see risks that they wouldn’t otherwise see.
“However, we have to turn that into recommendations – something that the customer can do something with. It’s not just having the drones – it’s having the expertise and the creativity to do something useful with that for the customers.”
And, as risk control becomes more data-driven, Bennett sees the role of risk control as an important partnership and value- add between the broker, the carrier, and the customer.
Identifying hidden risks
“Losses occur due to various causes – some are very common while others will be rarely seen,” added Bennett. As he told IB, fire is among the most common cause of loss, and electrical hazard is frequently the underlying issue.
“Overheating may be occurring within a wall, behind a panel, or in some other way that makes the hazard invisible to the naked eye. Our risk consultants are trained and qualified to identify such ‘hidden’ risks and to advise the customer on the actions they need to take.”
Lacoursière also offered several more cases that illustrate the high stakes here, one involving a manufacturing facility where the building layout itself created vulnerability.
“There wasn’t any fire separation between the opening to the manufacturing side and the warehouse where the finished product was stored,” he recalled. “We recommended installing roll-up fire separation doors, so if there ever were fire and smoke on either side, the system would shut off and seal the building.
They ended up having a real fire on the manufacturing site, and the lid of that fusible blade of that door closed, so we were able to avoid the smoke migrating from the manufacturing side to the warehouse, mitigating the overall impact of the loss.”
And, in another situation, the threat was not property damage but potential serious injury.
“We visited a site where there was a sidewalk nearby. This was an apartment building with multiple floors and exterior brick walls. With brick walls, sometimes, water can infiltrate between the wall and the brick, which damages the anchor point. Entire rows can start to lean on the wrong side, creating a potential liability issue.
“This was what was happening at this building. The last row of brick was about to fall – there were already visible pieces of evidence on the sidewalk below – and there were a lot of pedestrians walking through to a nearby bus station. In this case, we avoided the potential for an incident through risk control.”
“Our risk-control team is one of the largest in the Canadian market, serving commercial and speciality lines customers, spanning risks of all different shapes and sizes – from small, domestic businesses to large, complex multinationals. We deliver property, casualty, and auto risk assessments across the full breadth of industry segments in manufacturing, retail, wholesale, farming, construction, transportation, and more.”
The risk-control team supports all commercial line classes of activity through a very broad range of services.
One of the biggest risk-control teams in the Canadian insurance market
building block of the underwriting process,” explained Bennett. “Our risk consultants are the eyes and ears of the underwriters, enabling a thorough understanding of the risk and exposure presented, thereby building confidence in their underwriting assessment.”
WHEN IT comes to identifying risks in complex sectors, success hinges on a balance of expertise, foresight, and collaboration. At Intact, they’ve honed this process into an art form.
Speaking to Insurance Business, Yan Lacoursière, national director, commercial lines, risk control, and Bill Bennett, chief underwriting officer for specialty solutions at Intact Insurance Canada, explained that their teamwork goes beyond a simple survey – it’s all about understanding how risk evolves, how individual businesses operate, and how prevention can be engineered into everyday decisions.
“The insight provided by risk control is a fundamental
Published March 23, 2026
Published DD MMM 2026
1 in 4
local claim service
24/7
broker relationships across Canada
2,000
Source: Intact
Only 1 in 10 Canadians has taken steps to reduce the risk of their home being affected by a weather-related emergency
Why aren’t Canadians climate-risk ready?
Sources: Public Safety Canada, https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/mrgnc-mngmnt/ntnl-rsk-prfl/index-en.aspx; Canadian Climate Institute, https://climateinstitute.ca; Government of Canada, https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/flood-ready/know-the-risks/cost-floods.html
A survey of homeowners in high-flood-risk areas found that only 6% knew they were in a flood zone
$40,000+: average cost to repair a flooded basement
$250: average cost to flood-proof a basement
“We employ various risk-assessment methodologies depending on the risk exposure. For example, larger, complex risks will likely require an on-site risk assessment by one of our risk consultants,” said Lacoursière. “We also complete remote or virtual risk assessments, using various methods to gain risk insight, without setting foot on the customer’s premises.
“And that service extends directly into climate-related exposures. On the climate front, there are a number of seasonal risks that can impact customers. We continue to launch initiatives to help mitigate the impact of severe weather, including wildfires or heavy storms that businesses may face.”
When asked which elements consistently drive claim severity reduction, Lacoursière didn’t point to a single technical factor but rather to a universal discipline.
“There isn’t one specific element that the consultant will look or,” he told IB. “But one consistent pattern seen across the
Technology and innovation: absolutely crucial
industry is the importance of preventive maintenance.” And, whether it concerns equipment (electrical, plumbing, mechanical, sprinklers, production equipment), buildings envelope, or housekeeping, Lacoursière revealed that “when companies for,” he told IB. “But one consistent pattern seen across the industry is the importance of preventive maintenance.” And, whether it concerns equipment (electrical, plumbing, mechanical, sprinklers, production equipment), buildings envelope, or housekeeping, Lacoursière revealed that “when companies have an already-in-place and well-maintained preventive maintenance program and housekeeping maintenance program, that can significantly help at reducing their likelihood of loss.”
Unsurprisingly, technology plays an increasingly critical role in surfacing the risks behind those maintenance needs.
“I think it’s vital we have technology,” he added, specifically noting Intact’s long-standing leadership in data and analytics. We develop new tools and technologies to continually add value for customers through our risk-control services.”
“Risk control is very much about building trust with a customer through expertise and clear communication. From there, our innovative approach, adoption of new technologies, and predictive capabilities are what enable us to manage risk in a much more proactive way."
‘The customer is always at the centre of everything we do’
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