BOGOSO APIATSE EXPLOSION –WHAT INSURANCE COULD DO!

My heart is heavy as I write this piece. Initially, I decided not to write but to move forward better as a country compelled me to do this. My deepest condolences go to all Ghanaians, especially the families that have lost their dear ones. This is not the first time I have witnessed a disaster like this. There was a similar one that happened at Kwahu Fodoa when a gas tanker fell on its side and the gas leaked into the near village. Almost half of the village got burnt and some people lost their lives, others got injured, and properties were lost.

There are a lot of societal problems like environmental risk, health risk, economic risk, political risk, unemployment risk, cyber risk, property loss risk, and many others. Depending on how we see insurance, it could be used as a risk-mitigating measure. Risk is cost and the happening of these bring huge costs to the country. Should we always have to rely on the benevolence of people when an unfortunate incident happens in our country?. These people do well and provide the immediate needs but what happens to the child who might have lost his guardian in the incident?

According to the BBC, at least 13 people have been killed in a huge explosion near a mining town in south-western Ghana, officials say. This happened when a truck carrying explosives to a gold mine crashed with a motorcycle near the town of Bogoso, according to police. The BBC’s Thomas Naadi says Thursday’s explosion ripped apart the nearby village of Apiatse.

On Friday, 21^st of January 2022 rescue workers were still searching through the rubble for victims, while the smell of dead bodies filled the air, he says. Many houses have been completely flattened, leaving at least 380 people without shelter.

“It’s almost like a ghost town,” Sedzi Sadzi Amedonu, a senior official from the country’s disaster management agency, told the AFP news agency (BBC, 2022).

This brings to mind what insurance could do. Insurance companies have designed a product called goods in transit policy. This policy covers will indemnify the Insured against accidental loss of or damage to the whole or part of the property insured which is in transit either by the owner or the carrier who is responsible resulting from;

fire
an accident to the carrying vehicle
theft following violence or threat of violence against an employee of the Insured or carrier

Insurers defined what they mean by transit and this is usually explained to and agreed upon by the insured. Transit could start from the consigner’s premises (including carrying the goods to the conveyance), and continue with transportation to the consignee including temporary storage (limited period) in the course and the journey ends when off-loaded and delivered at any building or place of storage at the consignee’s premises. The policy would always define what it means as transit.

There are few exceptions or exclusions under this policy which include; theft from an unattended vehicle, inherent vice or defect vermin insects damp mildew or rust chipping denting scratching or cracking, the dishonesty of any partner or a director or employee or servant of the Insured, detention, confiscation, or requisition by customs or other officials or authorities, breakdown of refrigeration equipment, wear and tear or gradual deterioration (including the gradual action of climatic or atmospheric conditions), Mechanical or electrical breakdown, failure, breakage or derangement of the insured property, loss of or damage to cash, bank, and currency notes, coins, bonds, coupons, stamps, negotiable instruments, title deeds, manuscripts or securities of any kind; property consigned to or from any place outside Ghana; Consequential loss of any kind, delay, loss of market, depreciation or changes brought about by natural causes.

The policy could also be endorsed to exclude any losses directly or indirectly caused by or arising from or in consequence of or contributed to by ionizing, radiations or contamination by radioactivity from any nuclear fuel, nuclear weapon material, any consequence of war invasion, an act of foreign enemy hostilities, civil war, rebellion, revolution insurrection, military or usurped power, riot or civil commotion.

There are other special exclusions under the policy which may include; loss or damage to any goods due to the use of hooks, defective packing, improper stowage into a container, leakage or spilling of any liquid or gas unless the carrying vehicle collides, overturns, or is involved in an accident.

The policy could also be endorsed to exclude loss or damage to goods packed in plastic containers or jute bags or due to breakages under any circumstances such as bad roads unless the carrying vehicle collides, overturns, or is involved in an accident.

But my argument is in this conclusion; the goods in transit policy covers the goods themselves. What happens to the injury, death, or property damage that could result as a result of the goods to the general public? Does this call for compulsory insurance to cover the injury, death, or property damage the goods could cause to third parties or the general public? In order words, should the goods in transit policy be extended to cover public liability and should it be compulsory for all vehicles carrying especially hazardous goods to have this policy and the public liability extension?

Novas Insurance in the United Kingdom has a policy embedded with goods in transit, public liability, and employers’ liability.

Insurers in Ghana could first start by designing a similar product to help reduce the risk. Government can also look at the policy direction to make it mandatory for certain goods (hazardous goods) being carried in transit to be insured against damage, injury, and death to third parties and their properties.

The writer is a Chartered Insurance Practitioner of United State of America, USA, United Kingdom, UK and Ghana (CPCU, ACII, ACIIG), and holds MPhil in Enterprise Risk Management and Business Consulting from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, attained Bachelor’s degree from University of Ghana, Legon and have Applied Insurance studies, Diploma and Advanced Diploma (AAIS & AIS) from Ghana Insurance College / Malta Insurance Training Institute with 15years industrial experience. His interest lies in insurance, risk and data analysis.

Justice Peprah AGYEI, CPCU, ACII, ACIIG, MPhil, BA (0208498571)

References

Goods in transit insurance policy document / Hollard insurance Ghana / 2018

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60074511