The RVR Service's salvage managers are part of the organisation and their job is to prevent further damage caused by fire and water or accidents involving transportation and the environmental damage.
We have been doing this successfully since 1976 when the insurance industry set up an organisation consisting of Salvage Managers (RVR managers) with the task of dealing with consequential damage. Subsequent expansion means that we are now an organisation that can substantially reduce the costs associated with consequential damage for customers. The efficient functioning of salvage operations depends on the full cooperation of everyone involved. The more parties that are involved, the quicker the RVR manager can get to work when it is seems likely that the item of property is insured. It is therefore important that contracts for salvage operations are in place with all property insurance companies, captives and companies that have foreign insurers.
There are also salvage contracts with all of Sweden's 290 municipalities and their emergency services for emergency operations on behalf of the insurance industry. All cooperation is based on the 1995 agreement between the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions and the Swedish Insurance Federation with its framework agreements and the new “Civil Protection Act”.
After, or during, an event such as a fire, it is clearly necessary to be able to rapidly assess how to salvage as much as possible of value. Value is measured not least in salvaged computers, machines, premises etc., but what is very often a crucial factor in preventing companies' suffering too severely is being able to get production underway again as quickly as possible. This is where the RVR manager's experience, in combination with the Incident Commander and those affected, assesses where to target operations so that the most important items are prioritised. For example, it might entail screening off and salvaging a small section of a premises. Thanks to that decision, it might be possible for production to get underway again at 30 percent capacity after a short break.