It really does pay to keep workplaces safe - icare has recently announced that last financial year $76 million in workers insurance premium savings was delivered to over 280,000 NSW employers – marking the third year in a row of premium discounts, totally $300 million over that time. Many other jurisdictions and insurance arrangements around the country provide similar savings, designed to incentivise businesses to spend on initiatives to keep their employees safe.
The safer workplaces are able to keep all workers, the lower workers insurance premiums remain, the more premium discounts can apply – it really is a win win situation!
Altius Group’s Matthew Counsel, who works closely with organisations to deliver a range of Altius Group WHS services to keep insurance premiums low, says “The icare announcement is a wonderful reminder to pause and check you’re doing all you can to safeguard the health and safety of your employees”.
“We all spend considerable time and resources focussing on injury management (post-incident), it’s important we’re working towards injury prevention to get in front of the curve and lower insurance premiums”
There are a number of ways you can work towards lower premiums. Matthew recommends:
- Meet with your key decision maker, CFO or Accountant to discuss how these discounts are currently being invested in workplace safety and to encourage the savings to be applied to WHS initiatives that ensure the savings occur each year. You can also highlight the financial and personal benefits of protecting workers from injury.
Working on a tight budget? Ensuring the 10% ESI is accessed and applied to injury prevention strategies is a good place to start. Many businesses may not be effectively using these funds to improve workplace safety and in turn, reduce premiums.
- Regularly audit and check for any gaps in your WHS Management Plan to ensure your plan achieves legislative compliance, minimises risk, delivers simple solutions and provides peace of mind. Consider putting your premium savings towards external consultants with the expertise to conduct a thorough WHS Compliance Audit and implement solutions with you.
- Consult the Experts: In addition to cost benefits via premiums, engaging external consultants to improve your safety culture can lead to reduced absenteeism and increased productivity and workplace morale – all impacting the bottom line.
- Let the software do the work for you – Safety compliance and management software assists organisations to simply and effectively comply with their WHS obligations. Cloud-based software is available, scalable to organisations of all industries and size. WHS software is designed to take the stress out of meeting WHS compliance requirements while connecting workplaces to expert assistance when they need it most.
