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Lab Insurrance & Theft Prevention

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GeoffS:
The subject is NOT guns.
I'd rather not lock the thread so get back on topic.

nihilism:
Most of the home insurance policy's in Australia exclude or put limits on a lot of things, even computers and especially any portable electronic devices (laptops, tablets phones, etc). Some allow you to list specific items you want covered for a higher premium.
I have a shed full of tools and around $20k worth of woodworking machines which are pretty much uninsured because of this. I'd need to speak to an insurance broker to get them insured, it's too complicated for the big insurance companies here to bother with.

pickle9000:
I really like cameras. In my experience most theft is related to persons working on the premises. Cameras are good for that sort of thing. I also had them installed over certain benches to monitor projects when at home. The last use is to make sure the premises are empty before entering an area (in case they bad guys are still there). As far as I'm concerned personal and staff safety first equipment second.

 

nctnico:

--- Quote from: EEVblog on May 16, 2014, 11:26:20 pm ---
--- Quote from: KF5OBS on May 15, 2014, 05:23:56 pm ---And while we're discussing this, Alarm Systems are probably right along the topic as well. I always wonder what an average neighbourhood burglar would think of modern lab equipment. Some things, like my LeCroy HDO4024, look like a all in one PC. Other things may look meaningless. Does anyone have experience with break-ins either at home or at work and can share some real world results?

--- End quote ---

I know that test gear turns in cash converters (a pawn shop chain) here in Australia.
Likely the majority of it stolen. They probably wouldn't think to research the item on ebay and see what the going rate it, they just hock it for whatever they can get.
I don't have contents insurance my for lab, but I'm thinking about getting some quotes.

--- End quote ---
I tried to get my (mostly older) gear insurred but it was impossible. The insurrance companies require to have a maintenance contract for the newer gear and consider everything older than 5 years worthless. I got a bunch of good locks and most stuff is heavy anyway. I don't believe an alarm system does much good. Noboby bothers to go look what is going on and/or call the police. You could spend more on an alarm system which notifies a private security company but the thiefs will be long gone before they arrive. I did see an interesting device demonstrated though: a smoke cannon which fills a room with theater/disco smoke within seconds. If thieves can't see they can't steal and it takes a long time for the smoke to dissipate even with the windows open. They are not cheap though and consume quite a bit of power.

BTW most of my older gear has been modified (enhanced) in some way so it is easy to recognize if someone would sell it. OTOH a couple of years ago a one of my power supplies got stolen at my employer. I tried looking for it on online market places but I never found it.

A major problem over here is that the law assumes stolen stuff is covered by insurrance. If someone buys a stolen item for a reasonable price and could not suspect it was stolen it is his/hers and you can't claim it back.

jpb:
I think I can list most items on my household insurance - I've certainly done this with my computer workstation which I paid £2k for but which new would have cost £5k+ but I've not done this for my scope yet.

I think theft is low risk where I live, the worse crime we've had recently is someone stealing the free range eggs that one of our neighbours sells outside his house with an honesty-box (some xx!!$$$ was turning up in a car and just nicking them!) Things like pedal bikes are much more likely to be nicked than electronics stuff which is hard to pass on.

Fire perhaps is more of a hazard, but if my house burnt down I'd be more concerned about documents, photos, all my books as well as furniture plus the huge inconvenience of it all.

The tricky part with electronics stuff is generally it is worth more than you pay for it - e.g. I spent ages finding a scope and got a 350MHz four channel one for a bit under £1500. If it disappeared and I wanted to replace it quickly I'd have to pay something like £3k+ to get a similar quality. The new scope would have much more memory and other features but there would be no easy option to acquire a replacement at £1500 say. The situation is even worse with old HP equipment say - if you get a good piece on e-bay  for $1k you probably won't be able to find a replacement any time soon but a modern replacement might be more like $10k. Do you insure it for $1k or for $10k?

On the whole I tend to follow the approach my first employers, GEC, used to take. When we went on trips to the States they didn't provide medical insurance they simply gave us a letter saying they would cover all medical expenses. Insurance companies make a profit so if you can afford to take the loss you're better off insuring yourself. I can't afford to replace my house so I insure it but though it would be painful I could probably gradually replace my electronics equipment so I'm not so concerned about the insurance, after all it is fun buying new equipment anyway!

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