Business News
H&S checks reduce insurance premiums
The insurance industry has pledged to reward companies with lower employers' liability insurance if they can present a health and safety report conducted by a vetted trade association. The Association of British Insurers, which represents 97pc of the market, has set up an assessment committee and called on all trade associations to submit their health and safety schemes for scrutiny. If they prove up to scratch the insurance industry will recognise the schemes as a quality mark. "We have 100pc buy-in by ABI members," said Giles Quartly, of Iron Trades Insurance Company and a member of the assessment committee. "It may take a year or two to come through but it should help for the underwriter to show that there's the differentiation between the good and the bad. That probably hasn't been the case in the past." The move comes four months after a Department for Work and Pensions interim report found that many businesses had seen increases of up to 368pc in their employers' liability premiums, a mandatory insurance to cover injuries in the workplace. It is the second time the ABI has acted in advance of the DWP's final report, due in the autumn. The industry body recently ruled that companies should be given at least 21 days notice before the terms and cost of their premiums could be changed.