Building and Fire Codes: Risk and Liability

Presenters: Karen Petersen, CPCU, AIC, NFPA-CFPS

Aug. 27, at 2 p.m. ET

We hope you will join us for an introductory webinar on building and fire codes. This webinar, presented by Karen Petersen of Liberty Mutual, will provide attendees with the ability to recognize opportunities to improve underwriting of new policies or renewal books and help claims professionals recognize more opportunities for subrogation and liability, as well as fraud perpetuated by taking building system components offline (tampering with detection, suppression, or passive building control systems). 

Key takeaways include:
• Different types of building and fire codes and what cover
• What to look for when underwriting or reviewing risk associated with building and fire codes
• Required maintenance items and how they can prevent or limit loss
• Subrogation and liability opportunity identification post loss
• Myths about sprinkler systems (no, they don't usually all actuate simultaneously like they do in movies!)

 
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Karen Petersen, CPCU, AIC, NFPA-CFPS 

Claims Manager, Fire Investigation Team 

Liberty Mutual USRM
 

Karen is the USRM claims manager of Liberty Mutual Insurance’s fire investigation team (FIT). Along with overseeing the team’s fire investigators around the US, she is focused on data analyses pertaining to strategic planning, operational support, and vendor management. Karen first joined Liberty Mutual as their New England region senior fire investigator and was then promoted to the team’s project manager. Prior to joining Liberty Mutual, she held a long and distinguished public sector career with the town of New Milford, CT where she was the head fire marshal for CT’s largest geographic town, with a population of roughly 30,000 citizens. In this capacity, Karen developed and administered strategic plans, implemented policies, procedures, and budgets, and oversaw her department’s staff in addition to conducting fire and explosion investigations, plan reviews, and code enforcement inspections. She also managed numerous public education programs designed to increase awareness on loss control and fire safety and worked to improve the relationship with private sector investigators.

Throughout the past decade, Karen held numerous officer and director positions in both the CT Fire Marshal Association and Litchfield County Fire Marshal Association. She served on CFMA’s code development committee, testified at codes and standards hearings, and now serves on NFPA technical committees. She has been involved in public safety and the fire service since 1993, beginning her career as a volunteer in the New Fairfield volunteer fire department in CT. Karen relocated to FL in 2018.

Karen holds a B.S. degree in fire science from the University of New Haven and a M.S. in administrative science from Fairleigh Dickinson University, as well as many professional designations including NFPA-CFPS, IAAI-CFI, AIC and CPCU.