The National Insurance Commission says plans by the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to establish its forensic laboratory will be a major boost for the insurance industry in the country.
According to the commission, the lab will determine the cause of fires and help ascertain whether they fall under insurance policies.
The forensic lab is currently under construction at the headquarters of GNFS, estimated at a total cost of over 7 million Ghana cedis.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a donation made by his outfit to the project CEO of the NIC, Justice Yaw Ofori highlighted the relevance of the move to insurance delivery in the country.
“One of the most common losses to insurance is fire loss. That is fire damage to property. Most often we want to determine the cause of loss to make a decision as to whether it is covered under the insurance policy or not. It is a challenge, for us in insurance, it is a big plus to us.”
“When the forensic laboratory is working, it will expedite the work of the fire services, and then it will also make it easy to determine the cause of loss. It is a benefit to the insurance company and the whole country.”
The National Insurance Commission presented a cheque for GH¢250,000 to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to enable it to complete the construction of a 3-storey forensic laboratory.
This follows an earlier GH¢300,000 donation from the Commission in July this year.
CFO Julius Kuunor, the Acting Chief Fire Officer (CFO), who received the cheque said used the opportunity to thank the Commission profusely for their consistent and relentless support: “With this additional support to complete certain other important phases of the laboratory, we believe that action on the effective use of scientific methods will be expedited in order to swiftly tell the causes fires which will otherwise be merely classified as accidental”.
The Ag. CFO believes that the forensic laboratory, when completed, will be a paradigm shift to ensure the scientific method of investigation of incidents becomes the way to go.