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Insurance and The Engineer

by: Ieuan Dolby

The world is no longer right when the two words, Engineer and Insurance are used together, side by side in a conversation. Individually they are words that justify their use, with their own explanations and own meanings as those that compile dictionaries see fit! They each serve their own purpose until such a time as when they are used in the same sentence or even on the same page. Engineer and Insurance cannot be used together anymore, yes there was a time when this topic had no base but here and today it can be seen that the words are not in any sense synonymous with each other.

The dictionary tells us that, insurance is “a thing providing protection against a possible event” or “money paid to insure against something or by an insurance company in the event of damage, injury, etc”. Well, that tells us something although it is a bit confusing.

The dictionary tells us that an Engineer is “a person qualified in Engineering” and also it says that an Engineer is “a person who controls an Engine or a Machine”. And there we have it. It is sad that one cannot now look up “Insurance Engineer” or Engineering Insurance” to gain some valuable insight into what is involved and to shed some light on this matter.

What sadly and inadvertently sparked this subject was by what an Engineering Superintendent once said to a Ships Engineer whilst they supped beer in a bar one night. The Engineer was naturally complaining about the lack of spares that are made available to the ships he was on. NB: This is a frequent grumble of Engineers and probably does have value and meaning the world over, no company liking to part with expensive spares if they can help it. Anyway, the Superintendent, true to form agreed with the ships Engineer and blamed everything on the paper pushing bosses upstairs, current ships budgets and the economy, thus he followed all the usual avenues that Superintendents typically use in this regard. The superintendent unfortunately took one too many sips of his beer and forgetting that he had long since crossed the fence from Ships’ staff to Office staff, let slip a snippet of conversation that he had either been party to or that his big ears had accidentally sounded out.

The statement was relayed like this: “It is not our policy to purchase spares for our vessels, we would rather wait until the equipment fails and then claim it back on Insurance”.

Stunned is the word that comes to mind. Shock, disbelief and outrage could follow close second. The Engineer and the Superintendent naturally turned to other topics like discussing fellow Engineers and their faults before finally retiring to their respective beds and forgetting all about what had been discussed. Except for the Engineer who for some reason or other could never quite rid the Superintendents “slip” from his mind. And can anyone blame him?

Engineers struggle to perform their duties within parameters given and in often harsh and unforgiving environments but given the essential shore back up they invariably perform their duties well and to a high degree of end performance and safety standards. The dictionary states quite clearly that Engineers are qualified persons looking after machinery. Machinery needs both adequate spares and Engineers to provide a safe working environment and to keep the machinery and equipment in satisfactory working order. A machine that is awaiting a future Insurance Claim is not a safe working machine and the Engineer has failed in his duty to keep the Machine or Engine functioning. From an Insurance point of view an Engineer and required spares are the “things” that provide protection against a possible event.