Better Safe than Sorry: Reducing broker liability through Health and Safety Expertise

According to Kilian, Occupational Health and Safety has become integral to risk assessment. However, many brokers find themselves reluctant to complete this process without outside expertise, due to the enormous pressure associated with broker liability.

 

When conducting a risk assessment of a client’s premises certain questions need to be answered. Do you know what to look for on site? Can you identify all possible risks associated with occupational health and safety, including fire, accidents, or possible injury to employees, the public and so on? And once these have been identified, can you suggest effective ways in which to mitigate these risks, prior to insurance cover being provided for the client?

"By partnering with a reputable Occupational Health and Safety Consultancy, brokers can significantly reduce their liability,” says Kilian. "The right Health and Safety Consultancy has the resources and the expertise to partner with brokers throughout this process. They should know what to look for on various sites and have a clear understanding of what questions to ask the clients.”

 

He goes on to say that the Health and Safety Consultancy should also have access to its own pool of resources such as civil engineers or fire protection experts - depending on the client’s site requirements.

 

To take full advantage of this partnership, the consultancy should partner with brokers from the beginning of the process, helping to identify possible risks. The right Health and Safety Consultancy should in fact remove much of the headache associated with this process. Backed by expertise and experience in identifying a wide range of risks on various sites, including factories, warehouses, restaurants, abattoirs and farms - the Health and Safety Consultant will understand the clients requirements.

Having visited the client’s site, the Health and Safety Consultancy can consult with the broker again to explain the risks identified and suggest effective ways in which to mitigate these risks, prior to insurance cover being provided.

Kilian says that once the initial process has been completed, all required health and safety processes have been put in place and the client is now fully covered, it’s easy to forget about what might be the most important part of this process – maintenance. "It would be a tragedy to get a call from a client saying that their premises just burned down and hear them argue that they did have fire extinguishers in place, only to discover that these had already expired,” says Kilian. "Or worse, find out that some employees had been severely injured because a year after installing the required fire escape, someone at your client’s premises decided to use that "wasted space” for additional storage.”

 

He adds that having carried out the initial assessment, a reputable Health and Safety Consultancy should continue regular follow-up audits at the client’s premises to ensure that those precautions that were recommended have been put in place and are being sufficiently maintained. This will go a long way in avoiding claims that results in endless conflict and non-payment.

 

Safety Solutions Africa subscribes to the belief that prevention is better than claims. Health and Safety services are not only affordable, they offer clients protection from loss of assets, prevention of accidents and help to keep them compliant with the law. "Compliance should not be seen as an expense, but rather as an investment that becomes part and parcel of daily business,” he concluded.