Good morning,

nearly 12 months ago an external consultant claimed their Chartership reduced the insurance premium of the company he previously worked for by £30K. It seemed staggering if that was the reduction, as the premium would be a significantly larger comparative fraction. It pushed me toward my own Chartership even quicker.

Since becoming self-employed however, I've asked 6 clients to request information from their brokers or providers to ask the question and see if I could determine an average percentage saving for having a Chartered H&S Practitioner as the named Competent Person. Not one insurer has got back with any savings. I don't want my question to provoke ethical responses or other incentives for managing safely.

Could anyone give any published reference material or websites, or perhaps share their own experience of this specific matter, whether they are finding the same or perhaps have seen evidencial decline or holding (against the tide) of rises specifically due to CMIOSH level advice. After all the NDip and even Degree content on this, I'm hoping to prove my initial findings wrong.

Many thanks

Edited by user 16 February 2017 06:50:23(UTC)  | Reason: Poor spelling not picked up initially

I'm posting as a surveyor for an insurance company. I do not get involved in premium calculations though. 

H&S competence is something we take a look at during our surveys and we expect it to be proportional to the risk posed. So, if an office with 6 persons doesn't have a competent person (although a legal requirement), we would probably live with it if all other matters are in order. 

If we are talking about a construction firm with 500 employees and no competent advice, then the risk is probably intolerable unless the client is prepared to do something about it. 

I would ask about a H&S advisors qualifications and look for NEBOSH cert as the minimum and regard diploma and CMIOSH as a bonus. At the upper end of the risk scale, e.g. a hospital or power station then yes, CMIOSH would be important. 

Our preference would be to see in house competence as per the management regs. No disrespect to consultants but you may only see a client 2 or 3 days a year but we are concerned about the other 362 days as well. However, in a smaller company with no time or financial resource for a full time H&S officer then a consultant would be perfectly acceptable. 

The employment of a CMIOSH H&S officer is not a magic bullet though so would not translate to instant premium savings. I suspect the person you spoke to was able to implement management systems (18001?) and there was a good level of buy in from the senior management team. If they can influence a cultural change and this leads to fewer claims then yes, in a year or two you should see a reduction in premium. 

We do try to differentiate risks. So for two woodworking factories in the same town, same number of employees and same values insured, currently the premium should be virtually the same. If one employs a CMIOSH consultant and has everything right (guarding, LEV etc) then they should receive a better premium than the firm who is reactive / can't be bothered. This is why insurers employ surveyors like me because the broker is trying to get the best premium for their client and will gloss over the poorer features and sometimes fail to shout about the better features. 

Edited by user 16 February 2017 15:13:44(UTC)  | Reason: typo