Posted By Merv Newman Why not talk to your insurance company ? Merv (12th march, mine's an Aberlor, no ice)

Posted By Paul Craythorne Contrary to Adrian's comment I happen to know that implementation of OHSAS18001 can have a positive impact on insurance premiums. I manage a team of surveyors who carry out insurance surveys on a contractual basis for one of the world's largest and most proactive insurers. One aim of the surveys is to establish a baseline of how each insured client manages health and safety which then provides a good indicator of their risk of exposure to claims. Another aim of the surveys is to identify areas with scope for improvement and formally convey these to insured clients in the form of requirements and recommendations. These are proactively followed up and the insured client is supported wherever possible. Those companies with robust health and safety management systems will be favourably looked upon at insurance renewal and conversely those with poor health and safety management systems will be looked at less favourably (extremely poor and non co-operative companies may ultimately have their cover withdrawn). Those companies who have recognised and audited management systems in place such as OHSAS18001 can obtain premium discounts that can represent savings far in excess of any implementation costs. As with any such scheme each case is individually considered on merit and the discounts will vary from company to company. A company's insurance broker will have a stronger basis from which to place the liabilities when going into the market place prior to annual renewal and they will also be able to ascertain the level of discount likely to be offered. At the end of the day it can be likened to car insurance. If you have a good driving record with no claims against your policy then you are a better risk than someone who repeatedly gets points on their licence for speeding and is continually claiming against their policy. I hope this helps. Regards, Paul Craythorne

Posted By Paul Craythorne Adrian, Not knowing which insurer you worked for I cannot comment on their approach but I have been doing insurance surveys for over 2 years and the programme was running well before that. Some insurers are more forward thinking than others when it comes to loss control!! Regards, Paul Craythorne

Posted By Fred Pratley Is it then the case that if you are pretty good at managing H&S without all the formality of the ISO18001 and have a reasonable to good claim history as a result, then gaining 18001 will not make a significant difference to insurance premiums? Or would it make a significant difference? Fred (mine's a Macallan - 25 year old preffered and definitely no ice!)

Posted By Gareth W Jones I attended a seminar last week, a spokseman from BSI was talking about the implementation of OSHAS 18001 and how insurance companies such as Zurich are discounting companies Liability insurance premiums, by up to 20%. Regards Gareth Jones

Posted By Robert. So, to pay out around £6k and obtain OHSAS 18001 and proving that your company is commited to safety on paper isn't worth anything?? Our insurers wont reduce either and we have an excellent no claim record. Interestingly a previous posting about self accreditation for OHSAS may have something to do with the theory that not all insurers recognise it as a safety standard are not convinced that OHSAS has any impact on reducing claims.

Posted By Stuart Nagle Whilst going through the process of implemeting 18001 my former company's ELI insurance beacme due. This was a milestone date for the ELI insurance and resulted in two well qualified insurance inspectors visiting the premises for two days. At this time I was interviewed as was the MD (H&S Director) and some negotiation with the insurance companies surveyors resulted in a considerable saving on the employers ELI (amounting to about £20K plus as I recall). I believe that if you are thorough and pull no punches, but stateit like it is and your system is robust, along with some serious negotiation savings are indeed possible. Stuart

Posted By Steve Oliver, We have approached our insurance company regarding discounts for insurance if the company had 18001 or 'other'type of system approval in place, it did not seem to make any difference. The insurance company were looing for a robust safety managment system which we provide in house and now have a good claims record. As we have demonstrated a 80% reduction in site related accidents over the last 4 years we are now starting to see discounts of around 20%. Steve