Risk & Business Magazine McFarlan Rowlands Spring 2016 | Page 31

money on the insurance side of business
but still show a bottom-line profit due to
investment income. In today’s investment
climate, that is often no longer the case.
But, what about all these recent barn
fires — won’t they drive up the cost of
insurance? The reality is that while there
have been several devastating losses since
the first of the year, statistics from several
sources (including the Ontario Ministry
of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and
the Office of the Fire Marshal) show that
the frequency has remained mostly steady.
Over each of the last seven years, there has
been an average of 166 barn fires with a
monetary loss of $28.2 million, averaging
out to one barn fire every 2.2 days at
$169,000 each. Unfortunately, wh ]