Pubdate: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2003, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/home.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Mark Bonokoski HAZARDS OF A JOB Claims Adjusters Face Grow-Op Dangers When it comes to marijuana grow operations, it's the gang-versus-gang gunplay which captures the headlines, with sidebar stories telling the money side. In the shadow of Ottawa considering legislation to decriminalize pot possession, Criminal Service Intelligence Ontario laid out figures last week indicating the dramatic rise in "grow-ops" has cost this province more than $200 million over the last two years -- with a 250% increase in police busts illustrating the flip-side fact that the reward to organized criminals obviously still outweighs the risk. But there are other risks out there surrounding those clandestine grow-ops and speed labs which do not involve the obvious players -- not the bad guys and not the cops who are chasing them down. Instead, they involve the ones no one thought about -- until the headlines became overwhelming. And they're the insurance adjusters. Because of the millions of dollars involved, a few Canadian insurers have changed wordings in their home insurance policies to exclude coverage for damage caused by criminal acts, namely grow-ops and speed labs. But even fewer insurers have thought about the risks to their front-line adjusters who have to investigate these claims, which is why June Crinnion decided it was time that insurers got a little education about the down-and-dirty side of organized crime's latest prime-time industry -- especially when police estimate there are 15,000 to 20,000 illegal grow-ops at any given time in southwestern Ontario alone. FEARFUL June Crinnion is president of Johnson-Fisher Construction Ltd., an established Toronto fire and water restoration firm. And she got so fearful of what she was seeing -- and hearing -- that she hired O.B.N. Security, a private investigations company comprised of senior officers now retired from Toronto Police Services, to run a series of weekly seminars on the dangers surrounding these labs. Invited to attend these Wednesday sessions -- the second of which is being held today -- are her company's clients, including insurance adjusters. "We now face a new wrinkle," said Crinnion. "Increasingly my company has been called to look at premises that have been used by organized crime to manufacture drugs. Sometimes the growing apparatus has caused a fire. Sometimes the police have raided the premises. "Either way, when we have gone into these situations we have not been told in advance that the claims being investigated are the result of a cultivation or a chemical manufacturing operation," she said. "And every time I have sent my people in, I was unwittingly putting them in danger." Conducting these seminars is O.B.N.'s Bruce Durling, a former Toronto cop who spent 20 years on the major drug squad. "I am here to make them very afraid," said Durling. "When it comes to grow-ops and speed labs, there are dangers at every turn. Even beat cops back away if they happen to stumble upon one of these operations. "They know it is best to call in the experts -- the narcotics squad and the haz-mat (hazardous materials) team. "But an insurance adjuster? What's he or she know?" Throughout the two-hour presentations, Durling tells the insurance adjusters what to look for whenever they are investigating a claim -- the telltale signs of something being amiss which could save them from being exposed to toxic chemicals, or from walking into the booby-trap situations which are becoming almost commonplace in these clandestine labs. "Be ever vigilant," he said. "But, remember this, if anything raises your suspicions, even if you think it may be insignificant, get yourself out of the building and call in the authorities." 'KABOOM' A few years back, a hash-oil lab in Oshawa exploded and levelled a house and two adjoining homes, giving rise to a red flag which is waving even stronger today with the sudden growth in indoor marijuana operations, complete with traps being laid to fend off rival gangs. "Did you know a Drano can screws nicely into a light bulb socket?" said Durling. "Fill it with ether -- which is a big component of speed labs -- and the moment the light switch is flicked on, it's kaboom." What June Crinnion wants to see happen as a result of these seminars is the development of a protocol within her industry. "I was shocked when I first heard of all the dangers," she said. "And I felt I had to make the industry aware of these dangerous situations -- not only as an occupational health and safety issue, but also from a liability standpoint. "With an excess of 10,000 houses currently exploited as cooking and growing labs in Toronto alone, a protocol for how these places are handled must be established. "There are just too many time bombs out there." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens