One of my clients [MVR] was contacted and visited by a Risk Adviser from his Insurance Company who offered their services to manage his H&S. He asked my opinion and I quoted what I had charged against their inflated proposal for actions he did not require or I had already delivered. Now they have sent a somewhat threatening letter that he must do risk improvements or his premium will go up or he will not be covered. One improvement related to business continuity and the others driving at work. My client and I already have business contingency covered but he is reviewing anyway as a precautionary measure. The driving is minimal [testing post repair and to/from clients] and is adequately controlled as all his engineers are checked, insured, IAM level skilled drivers working in pairs for tests and all short distance with no HGV or high risk vehicles. Is it morally right or perhaps ethical that the person who insures a business also provides advice to that business or does this lead to lower risk for the insurer and an opportunity to get more money via premiums & charges. Hum your thoughts please?

I think it's entirely reasonable that an insurer accepting a risk transfer may offer advice on improving the risk exposure and may also choose whether to continue to accept the risk as per their commercial contract conditions. Were these risk improvements discussed at the time of the visit? Were they agreed by your client? If not then I believe that your client has grounds for complaint and needs to take this up with their brokers. Ultimately of course there is always the option to buy their insurances elsewhere at next renewal. However, it is often the case that the insurance buying decisions are taken by persons elsewhere in an organisation than those who have to put up with poor service from the insurers. The decisions on what to buy and from whom and at what cost is often made on the basis of cost alone, not on the value received.

mlokier - I suspect there may be some confusion here. In your original post you mention the risk advisor was from the insurance company and they offered their chargeable services to manage H&S for him. While insurers do employ risk advisors (like me) to inspect clients and set out improvement programmes, it is very unusual for an insurer to offer their services to then manage it. I believe Aviva have a training division for H&S courses but I do not think they offer consultancy services. Some insurance brokers do have H&S consultants on their payroll though. They can be employed in 2 ways:- 1) to produce a pre-cover report to assist the broker account exec in placing the business, in other words, to help sell the client to a prospective insurer. 2) to help a client to manage an insurers risk improvements. From the way you've described it, I suspect the second scenario is at play here. An insurer will be happy once the requirements have been implemented. If you've already got procedures in place, set these out in a letter with supporting documentation. There is no need to repeat the work in a different format just to keep an insurer happy, unless they felt the original was not suitable or sufficient for the risks / hazards involved.

Thank you Stevie40. Yes, I know several Insurance Companies/Brokers who have H&S Divisions/Teams; e.g. NFU Mutual, Aviva and some Brokers in my area. It was the Risk Adviser pressuring my client as though it would not have happened if my client had accepted their proposal. If they are insuring it is for the client to manage their H&S and the insurer to seek confirmation of compliance not offer to advise them on it. It reminded me of a CD I commented on some years ago where there was a proposal for the HSE to charge for advice yet also prosecute. Sort of "we approve you doing this" then "we will prosecute if it goes wrong". I recall simplistically at Ladbroke Grove HMRI approved signal SN109 siting which was a major factor in the accident. I think focusing a client's mind on compliance is a good thing to help us. It was the appearance post their proposal which caused concern in both the client and me. SBH it crossed my mind. David I see your perspective and the answer is no, nothing was said during the visit. Safety Smurf client though the same as you Thanks for the comments one and all much appreciated. Maggie