It’s Pig Iron Below Water!

This submit 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”. Perhaps it’s the surety underwriter’s capability to rapidly unlock the secrets and techniques of a consumer’s monetary assertion 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 obstacles and make writing surety enterprise extra comfy for some. Lately I’ve seen a motion in altering software and bond kind language to confer with the Obligee merely because the “Proprietor” and substitute 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 immediately from the insurance coverage business. We are going to typically obtain a submission the place the agent has written clearly on the high of the submission “PIUW“. This stands for Pig Iron Below Water. This outdated part comes from the early days of fireplace insurance coverage. Pig Iron is an intermediate product of the iron business, often known as crude iron. When Iron ingots are made (these are used to make Ductile Iron pipe, for example) they break off molten items of the iron off the runner (generally known as the sow) into water to chill. The cooling ingots kind right into a form that appears like a child pig, thus the identify 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 when it comes to a hearth threat, you’ve in regards to the most secure threat there may be. So pig iron below water is a approach to signify a positive factor. A secure wager. It’s cash within the financial institution. It’s the absence of threat.

In fact one particular person’s pig iron below 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 imagine surety must be accessible to everybody and we’re prepared that will help you translate the subsequent alternative into enterprise fortune. So you probably have a development consumer that wants a efficiency and fee bond or you probably have industrial surety want or query, contact us and we’ll assist you to together with your surety wants.

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