Five Gaps In The BOP!

Businessowners Policies, traditionally referred to simply as “BOPs,” were introduced in 1976 and significantly revised in 1987. The BOP evolved gradually from the 1987 revisions to include risk classification and sizes not contemplated in the original or “first revision” editions of the form. Additionally, many insurance carriers have built upon the Insurance Services Office’s (ISO’s) version to develop proprietary BOP forms.

Designed to simplify the risk management process by packaging property and liability coverages into one form while adding several coverage extensions traditionally necessitating endorsement, BOP policies have long been viewed as the easiest way to protect the client with the greatest amount of coverage and the least amount of work; and to a great extent, they achieve these objectives. However, reliance on the automatic coverages provided by the BOP may have blinded some to the form’s coverage gaps.