It’s Pig Iron Under Water!

This publish is a part of a collection sponsored by Previous Republic Surety.

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

It’s true that easy, clearer language can break down boundaries and make writing surety enterprise extra snug for some. In recent times I’ve seen a motion in altering utility and bond form language to discuss with the Obligee merely because the “Proprietor” and change the phrase principal with “Contractor”. We have to eschew obfuscation. I imply, keep away from overly sophisticated phrases.

One in every of my favourite idioms used within the surety enterprise got here instantly from the insurance coverage business. We’ll typically obtain a submission the place the agent has written clearly on the high of the submission “PIUW“. This stands for Pig Iron Underneath Water. This previous section comes from the early days of fireside insurance coverage. Pig Iron is an intermediate product of the iron business, also referred to 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 (often known 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 below water, and by way of a hearth danger, you’ve concerning the most secure danger there may be. So pig iron below water is a option to signify a certain factor. A protected wager. It’s cash within the financial institution. It’s the absence of danger.

In fact one individual’s pig iron below water will be one other individual’s oily rags within the nook on a sizzling day. For this reason we’ve got underwriters to make that willpower.

We imagine surety must be accessible to everybody and we’re prepared that will help you translate the subsequent alternative into enterprise fortune. So when you have a building shopper that wants a performance and payment bond or when you have business surety want or query, contact us and we’ll provide help to along with your surety wants.

This weblog was initially printed on the Old Republic Surety website. It’s reproduced right here with permission.