ISO is not dead

It always seemed that depending on who you talked to in the insurance area that they may of may not use the ISO rating system, and that it seems that they were not following the ISO rating. The ISO, or Insurance Services Office as it’s commonly called, has started to give some thought to a new era of connection to the fire and emergency services and the communities it serves. They are in the process of completing a much-needed upgrade of its Fire Suppression Rating Schedule. Has it been too many years since the rating system had been revised? Having been though and involved in the testing I say it has, you had to attend a seminar and ask questions just to understand the basic rating schedule.

The new rating system recognizes accredited departments and will include recognition of a science-based standard of cover measuring a department’s operational performance in time-based fractile percentages, where sufficient data exists, or use of the traditional distance-based method of coverage. The system provides points of credit for fire prevention, an updated technology section and many other improvements.

It seems that there may a new level of cooperation with today’s fire and emergency service management. ISO has invited key players to review and provide feedback on the draft of the new rating schedule, they will conduct beta testing to ensure the changes can be practically implemented and are committed to improving and updating the rating system regularly. ISO has also been investigating easy access to fire chiefs’ to the immense ISO database to help the chiefs do their jobs in planning and response.

Seems that the change is finally coming to this sometime underrated system. Hopefully it will not again be fulltime department oriented, and give the consideration to small struggling departments too. Go to their  revisions web page to see Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) updates proposals. There is a list of potential modifications and additions to the current FSRS. Good or bad you be the judge? You will be the one dealing with them.