It’s Pig Iron Beneath Water!

This put up is a part of a sequence sponsored by Outdated Republic Surety.

To a few of my fellow insurance coverage professionals, the surety enterprise has all the time had an aura about it. Maybe it’s the unique language we use referring to “Obligee’s” and “Principals”. Possibly it’s the surety underwriter’s potential to rapidly unlock the secrets and techniques of a shopper’s monetary assertion and translate a web page of numbers to feedback of reward or questions of concern.

It’s true that straightforward, clearer language can break down obstacles and make writing surety enterprise extra comfy for some. In recent times I’ve seen a motion in altering utility and bond kind language to seek advice from the Obligee merely because the “Proprietor” and substitute the phrase principal with “Contractor”. We have to eschew obfuscation. I imply, keep away from overly difficult phrases.

Considered one of my favourite idioms used within the surety enterprise got here immediately from the insurance coverage trade. We’ll generally obtain a submission the place the agent has written clearly on the high of the submission “PIUW“. This stands for Pig Iron Beneath Water. This previous part comes from the early days of fireplace insurance coverage. Pig Iron is an intermediate product of the iron trade, often known as crude iron. When Iron ingots are made (these are used to make Ductile Iron pipe, as an illustration) they break off molten items of the iron off the runner (referred to as the sow) into water to chill. The cooling ingots kind right into a form that appears like a child pig, thus the title pig iron. The purpose of the assertion is that Iron is taken into account comparatively inflammable (It melts at 1200 levels Celsius). Now put iron beneath water, and by way of a hearth danger, you will have in regards to the most secure danger there’s. So pig iron beneath water is a method to signify a positive factor. A secure guess. It’s cash within the financial institution. It’s the absence of danger.

In fact one particular person’s pig iron beneath water may be one other particular person’s oily rags within the nook on a sizzling day. That is why we have now underwriters to make that dedication.

We consider surety ought to be accessible to everybody and we’re prepared that can assist you translate the subsequent alternative into enterprise fortune. So in case you have a development shopper that wants a efficiency and cost bond or in case you have business surety want or query, contact us and we’ll enable you together with your surety wants.

This weblog was initially revealed on the Outdated Republic Surety web site. It’s reproduced right here with permission.