Why OEHS Professionals Work in the Insurance Industry
Occupational and environmental health and safety (OEHS) professionals provide value-added services to insurance industry clients, brokers, and carriers by anticipating hazards and mitigating risks before they arise.
The resources below are intended to help both employers and insurance industry representatives assess how OEHS professionals can help reduce exposure to workplace safety hazards, ergonomic challenges, and ongoing health risks through proven prevention strategies.
A Matter of Trust: Insurance and Safety Professionals Depend on OEHS Professionals
Whether you’re an insurance broker working with insurance carriers to improve their safety profile, a client interested in buying insurance from a carrier with competitive rates based on their ability to anticipate risks, or an insurance carrier analyzing your risks and looking to hire more safety specialists to curb losses, an OEHS professional is the consummate safety expert you need on your team.
One of OEHS experts’ greatest strengths is the ability to anticipate risk, address it, and prevent future losses. Investing in prevention can deliver substantial savings on an organization’s bottom line – from chemical manufacturers to the transportation industry to the construction industry. The saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” encapsulates how OEHS professionals employ proven strategies that can help reduce exposure, as well as the risk of claims and injuries.
Risk Reduction and Insurance in Renovation and Demolition Projects
When construction projects involving renovation of existing buildings are underwritten, the contractor must engage with the owner and insurer in management planning. The key components of this stage are a plan consistent with project specifications, which will be provided by the project designer, and a means of communicating additional details on avoiding or resolving risk issues to the contractor.
Check out the blog by Paul Haas, CSP, CIH, LAC to learn more.
Work Injury Costs
The cost benefit of incorporating scientifically sound prevention strategies can be significant for any organization in the insurance industry. The National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that the total cost of work injuries in 2021 was $167.0 billion. This figure includes wage and productivity losses of $47.4 billion, medical expenses of $36.6 billion, and administrative expenses of $57.5 billion. This total also includes employers’ uninsured costs of $13.8 billion, including the value of time lost by workers other than those with disabling injuries who are directly or indirectly involved in injuries, and the cost of time required to investigate injuries, write up injury reports, etc.
Collaboration With Safety Professionals
OEHS professionals work in tandem with safety professionals in the insurance industry, offering an added layer of expertise to the risk assessment strategies implemented by an organization’s in-house team of safety professionals tasked with mitigating risk. In the insurance industry, no team is complete without an OEHS professional that can help an organization assess where they are vulnerable and how they can effectively manage risks and mitigate losses. By investing in OEHS expertise upfront, you can save in the long run on claims for workers’ compensation, property management, and natural disasters, to name a few.
How to Find an OEHS Professional
The first step in improving your organization’s safety profile is finding an OEHS professional who can conduct an overall risk assessment and recommend risk mitigation strategies. To find an OEHS professional near you, visit the Consultants Directory on the AIHA website.
Resources by Type
Case Studies
Websites
- Work Injury Costs - Injury Facts (nsc.org)
- National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health | NIOSH | CDC
Blog
Risk Reduction and Insurance in Renovation and Demolition Projects, By Paul Haas, CSP, CIH, LAC.