Introducing the CIAA Ontario Chapter President John Seyler

It has been a busy year for John Seyler, the president of the Ontario Chapter of the Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association (CIAA).

Over the last year, the Ontario chapter has been focussed on increasing membership, boosting participation of small member firms on the executive, providing increased benefit to members and augmenting the visibility of the CIAA.

Participation by small member firms on the regional executive has increased by 25 per cent, with Seyler, director of transportation and fleet services, Cunningham Lindsey Canada, continuing to work to increase that number. Increasing overall membership within the association continues to be an ongoing commitment, as the CIAA is faced with the challenge of replacing members no longer part of the association due to the recent acquisition of CGI’s Claims and Risk Management divisions by SCM Insurance Services, he noted.

Of utmost importance for Seyler has been providing real benefits to members of the CIAA. Recently, the CIAA, who, in 2006 took over the administrative obligations surrounding oral examination licensing requirements for independent adjusters from Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO), had to increase the cost of the examination entrance fee from $125 to $500. As a perk for CIAA members, there is a $250 credit towards the fee, putting real money into members’ pockets when a new adjuster is licensed.

Through training and education, the Ontario chapter of the CIAA is benefiting independent adjusters by teaching valuable skills for the job. The seminars are proving to be so valuable, that the number of company adjusters started attending has increased. “This year, we had more company adjusters attend than ever before,” Seyler said. “So, we certainly have topics which are of benefit to every sector of the claims industry. We had an excellent and diverse presentation with the accounting background and the case law.” Going forward, the chapter will be focussing on adjuster safety, tips for staying safe on the job and ways to handle insureds that are in a fragile state. There are a number of instances where adjusters, in the course of their job, are placed in situations in which their safety is not always assured, be it a lack of proper training on the equipment (such as ladders), or working next to live lanes on a major road, or being unaware of hazardous chemicals that could be present on scene, or dealing with insureds that are upset or angry, etc. “We place ourselves in positions of risk [with] inclement weather and hazardous conditions all the time and the last thing we want is an adjuster being injured or killed falling off a roof or being struck on a highway,” Seyler said. “Yesterday I stood out on the 401 after a truck accident, we’re standing for hours at a time next to live lanes and you know how distracted drivers get coming up to accidents . . . at any time there could be a collision.”

Seyler and the rest of the executive are also working to foster a relationship with the Canadian Insurance Claims Managers’ Association (CICMA). “By being directly involved with the claims managers association [we are] able to easily communicate the needs and the requirements of independent adjusters, which enables us to further service their clients, the insureds, and their employers, the insurers,” Seyler said. “That’s one of the important things the CIAA does, is give a unified face to the independent industry with the claims managers’ association.” The executives of CICMA and CIAA have been discussing ways that members would be able to attend meetings held by both organizations on an on-going basis because of the similar interests between the two.

For the last year of his term as president, Seyler will work to continue promoting independent adjusters in Ontario specifically and nationally as a whole, increase membership and continue to provide members with greater value for their membership dollar. “We’re going to continue to look for ways that will enable independent adjusters to see real financial benefits to belonging to the CIAA,” Seyler said. •