The Global Legal Post has interviewed a top end, international insurance intermediary who is seeing more use of drones by companies whose insurance he arranges. He wanted to remain nameless. He suggests that lawyers tend to be on the fringes of developments on drones at the moment.

Q In which ways are you seeing an increasing use of drones?

A We do have clients with exposure who are looking to use drones more and more. This started about two years ago. We haven’t issued any guidelines. 

Q To what extent are the lawyers involved now?

A We have very little contact with lawyers until things go wrong. Most of the stuff is coming from insurance brokers. It depends on whether the insureds actually tell you. Depending on who they are and what they are doing, there might or might not be an obligation on them to tell you about use of drones. But it is pretty early in their usage. There is generally a duty to disclose and that will remain. 

Lawyers will typically come in and get involved when there is a claim. They are not dealing with the actual insurance.

Q How familiar is the insurance sector with drone technology?

A The use of drones has implications for normal commercial customers and for insurance companies themselves. Insurance companies are starting to use the technology for loss adjusting. They use drones to get a better view of what has happened. That is becoming more prevalent.

Q Which countries are you seeing drones being used in?

A The US will go in for this in a fairly major way. We have had some stuff in the UK but not much. The use will be more in developing countries. 

Q Which sectors are you seeing drones being used in now?

A Aerial photography. Crowd control: drones are being used to monitor crowds by the police. Utilities. Surveying. Loss adjusters. Farmers are using them with their crops. We will see some use in oil and gas but the range of drones isn’t quite long enough now if you have 200 or 300 kilometres of pipelines, for instance.

Q What will happen over the next two or three years?

A We will see more and more uses of drones - but they won’t grow in size. That is important because the bigger they get, the heavier they are and the more damage they can do. That is important also because they will be used pretty regularly in cities. They will probably stay around the same size. 

Regarding the risk to other commercial aircraft - something will happen. There will be a plane strike. 

Q Will drones be insured by general insurance or by aviation specialists?

A It’ll stay [where it is now] with the non-aviation insurers. That is good news for people who look to operate them as aviation insurers are normally more expensive.