Maintenance, Risk Management, and Insurance
Maintenance categories
Distinguish routine, preventive, corrective, emergency, and deferred maintenance. The reserve study component list and the maintenance plan should align - if a component is in one, it should be in the other. The most tested document concept is the maintenance responsibility matrix: which items are association responsibility (common elements, limited common elements per the declaration) and which belong to the owner.
Risk management cycle
Identify exposures, evaluate frequency and severity, then control through avoidance, reduction, transfer, or retention - and monitor. Inspections, incident reports, safety signage, contractor insurance requirements, and a disaster/recovery plan are all controls. Document everything; an undocumented inspection is hard to defend.
Insurance lines
Know the purpose of each: master property policy (association-owned buildings and common elements, usually replacement cost), general liability, directors and officers liability, fidelity/crime coverage for money handling, workers' compensation, umbrella/excess, and peril-specific coverage such as flood or earthquake. Read the valuation clause (replacement cost versus actual cash value), the deductible, and endorsements such as waiver of subrogation and additional insured status.
Traps
Questions like to blur D&O (wrongful acts in governing) with property coverage, assume the master policy covers an owner's personal property or interior improvements (usually the owner's HO-6 policy does), or assume coverage exists without a certificate of insurance on file. Another trap: assuming a fidelity bond responds to bad board decisions - it responds to dishonesty.
Rule of thumb: adopt a written deductible-assignment policy so owners know in advance who pays when an owner-caused loss hits the master policy deductible.