IN August last year a series of massive explosions at Ruihai International Logistics in Tianjin caused China’s worst industrial disaster for years.

But within hours and five thousand miles away, many insurance claims arising from the tragedy were being factored through a Worcester-based on-line investigation company. In the aftermath, insurers across the world were unsure how damaged their insured premises were around the periphery of the blasts, which killed 173 people, and turned to NetWatch at Whittington for assistance.

The company's managing director David Purcell explained: "Many of our clients insured workplaces, public buildings, warehouses and storage facilities and urgently needed to assess the damage and their exposure. Within hours we were able to obtain images and videos of the sites concerned, with many employees in the area returning to their workplaces and photographing, videoing and even live streaming damage to their employers buildings across Chinese social media. In collating and analysing the information obtained, we were able to give our clients the information they needed to assess the damage extremely quickly, and without the need to have boots on the ground in China."

The company headquartered in Whittington Hall regularly investigates incidents on any scale in order to give clients a fuller picture of the event, assess their liability, accurately set a reserve, locate witnesses, or even identify those injured. The business provides desktop investigation services to global customers in the insurance, legal, retail and finance sectors.

NetWatch was founded in August 2013 and Mr Purcell added: "When we set up the business, we were going on a hunch that advances in technology and digital communications could open up new surveillance techniques that were less intrusive and more cost effective than their traditional counterparts. While not all surveillance operations can be carried out online, our growth over the last two years is testimony to the demand in the sector and, as we become a more established business, we decided it was time to invest in our website and improve our customers’ online experience.”

The company, which has grown to employ 17 investigators, has now launched a new-look website as part of the next phase of its expansion plans