Author: Teamwsib

The New South Wales Insurance Regulator – the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) – recently ramped up the size of its Safety Inspectorate team as part of the NSW Government’s focus to prevent accidents from happening in the workplace. In mid-2021; a further 40 inspectors were added to the 330+ team boosting the ratio of inspectors to workers to one in every 10,000. More recently, SIRA have implemented systems whose predictive modelling capabilities will drive more targeted workplace safety inspections across the state.

Return to work rates are at “historic lows”, with SIRA claiming return to work within the first 13 weeks from date of injury dropping from nine (9) in every ten (10) workers in 2015, to less than eight (8) in every ten (10) as it currently stands. With economic loss being the key driver in workers compensation premiums, the risk becomes magnified insofar as poorer financial outcomes for employers coupled with increased Safety Inspectorate attention; and while the work undertaken by the inspectorate has its value and is necessary in today’s market, the time investment for key stakeholders within a business or organisation can be taken away from driving return to work itself.

In SIRA’s website article released on the 11th August 2022, it states; “Risk factors used in the modelling include the inexperience of the employer, any recent spike in claims (frequency), and delays in reporting. Factors relating to the worker include the nature, type and location of the workers injury and events such as surgery in the first month of a claim… SIRA is supporting and educating the identified employers through a mix of engagements, including inspector visits to the workplace, phone calls, virtual meetings and regular correspondence”. The article goes on to state the inspectors, who are presently required to undertake 30 inspections a month, will see their inspection rate increase to 80 inspections a month from September 2022.

The announcement of SIRA’s intent to utilise predictive modelling to increase safety inspections is another move to push for increased early intervention strategies in the workplace. Standard of Practice 34 commenced in April 2022 whose very foundation was built around positive influence on management of the first four (4) weeks of a workers compensation claim. Standard of Practice 34 sets out seven (7) expectations of an insurer and employer to provide early supportive contact, provide education and identify barriers, and matching action items to identified risks to promote a safe and durable return to work post-injury.

The Workers Compensation division here at Warren Saunders Insurance Brokers are well across the detail and have first-hand seen these trends unfold, not only in NSW but nationally as well. Our team are on hand to provide advice on how employers can drive better return to work outcomes through tailored strategic advice and leverage our relationships with insurers / scheme agents and suppliers. Contact our team today on (02) 9587 3500 or on theteam@wsib.com.au for more information.

A number of organisations hold personal information which belongs to clients, customers, suppliers and third parties. Under Australian law, personal information is defined as:

“Information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

1. Whether the information or opinion is true or not.
2. Whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.”

A number of different types of information are explicitly recognised as constituting personal information under the Privacy Act. For example, the following are all types of personal information:

• Sensitive information (includes information or opinion about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or criminal record, provided the information or opinion otherwise meets the definition of personal information).
• Health information (which is also ‘sensitive information’).
• Credit information.
• Employee record information (subject to exemptions).
• Tax file number information.

This list is not exclusive.

If you hold personal information such as that outlined above, and that information is accessed by a hacker, there has been a notifiable data breach. This would then need to be notified to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and to the affected individuals. The cost of providing this notification can be high and it can  be an onerous task to notify individuals particularly when they are former clients you may have lost touch with.

Cyber insurance can be an important tool in managing this notification process. A Cyber Insurance for example can include Incident Response Expenses which includes costs:

1. To comply with consumer notification provisions of the Privacy Regulations in the applicable jurisdiction that most favours coverage for such expenses, but only to the extent that such compliance is required because of a Cyber Incident, including but not limited to:

• Retaining the services of a notification or call centre support service.
• Retaining the services of a law firm to determine the applicability of an actions necessary to comply with Privacy Regulations.

2. To retain a legal or regulatory advisor to handle and respond to any inquiries by any government agency, or functionally equivalent regulatory authority, alleging the violation of Privacy Regulations, including communicating with such government agency of functionally equivalent regulatory to determine the applicability and actions necessary to comply with Privacy Regulations.

Any client who holds personal information needs this kind of cover.

If you would like more information on any of the above, then please contact your account manager or reach out to us on (02) 9587 3500, or at theteam@wsib.com.au

Following a recent review by the NSW State Government, iCare can confirm that NSW workers compensation premiums will increase on policies due for renewal from 30th June 2022 onwards. This modest increase aims to balance the cost impacts faced by NSW businesses as a result of recent natural disasters, COVID-19 and other global inflationary pressures.

What this increase means for you:

• It can be expected that 50% of rates will not change, with the other 50% increasing by an average of 2.9%;
• Monthly installments will be available to anyone with an average performance premium of over $1,000.00;
• Late payment fee has been set at 0.647% for any overdue debts.

iCare has confirmed that the LPR adjustment factors will also increase for the period 30/06/2022 – 30/06/2023 as outlined in the table below:

Reforms introduced as part of the Hayne royal commission mean that a failure to comply with certain AFS licensing obligations – including obligations relating to how cyber risks are addressed – may give rise to a civil penalty. This was precisely the situation a financial services firm found themselves in when recently, they were prosecuted by ASIC for failing to comply with these obligations. According to Insurance News, their Cyber policy was too lax.

For this reason, it is so important to ensure your business has adequate cyber risk management systems in place to manage cybersecurity risks or you could risk facing prosecution.

Some risks that you and your clients could be exposed to if you don’t have a sufficient risk management strategy in place are:

• Compromise of confidential data
• Fraudulent emails requesting funds to be transferred
• Ransomware
• Unauthorised access to servers.

Below are some examples of how you could minimise this risk:

• Password-protect documents sent via email which contain personal client information;
• Avoid using personal email addresses like Gmail;
• Use passwords for IT devices and implement a password policy;
• Use up-to-date security software including anti-virus;
• Assess software annually for currency and apply patches regularly;
• Have an “acceptable use” policy for staff;
• Back up data regularly, store backups securely, and test them regularly;
• Implement physical security requirements such as locking premises and having a clean desk policy.

If you would like more information on how you can improve your businesses cybersecurity position then please reach out to us on (02) 9587 3500, or at theteam@wsib.com.au

Traditionally, the insurance market has been cyclical and we saw premiums rise and fall over a 7-10 year period. However, as a result of the ongoing catastrophes in the last five years (outlined in the table below), alongside low interest rates, high inflation, and supply chain issues the market has been faced with unprecedented times and the hardest insurance market there has ever been. Clubs are being faced with significant premium increases and reduction in cover by insurers in order for them to rectify historically unpredictable results. It is of our opinion that this increase is the new benchmark and premiums are unlikely to fluctuate drastically in future but rather rise and fall by 5-10% around the ‘new normal’.

In order to manage the increase in premiums and increase your businesses appeal to insurers it is important now more than ever to have a solid risk management plan in place.

Did you know that the Finance and the Legal, Accounting and Management services industries both sit within the top three positions when it comes to the highest amount of cyber breaches according to the OAIC?

Health has the most breaches, at 83, followed by finance (56), legal, accounting & management services (51), personal services (36) and education (32).

According to the ASCS, some of the most common cyber threats are listed below:

• Cryptomining
• Data spill
• Denial of Service
• Hacking
• Identity theft
• Malicious insiders
• Malware
• Phishing – scam emails
• Ransomware
• Scams
• Web shell malware

Is your business protected in the event of a Cyber breach?

For more information on any of the above, or to ensure your business is adequately protected, please reach out to your WSIB Account Manager or contact the office on (02) 9587 3500 or theteam@wsib.com.au. Alternatively you can click the link below.

iCare launches open market tender for claims and injury management services.

This tender is for the procurement of claims and injury management services for the NSW Nominal Insurer workers compensation scheme.

This tender process follows the final 12-month extension to icare’s existing provider contracts ensuring stability as the tender process gets underway. Service providers who are successful will begin on 1 January 2023.

Freeze announced on eligible employers moving between claim service providers

icare has announced it will introduce a six-month freeze on employers moving between claim service providers (CSPs) while it finalises the open market tender for new CSPs.

For employers currently eligible to move between providers, the freeze will begin on 15 July 2022 and end on 1 January 2023 when the successful tenderers for claims management services are to begin operations.

By making this change, icare believes the freeze will minimise potential disruption over this transition period to the new claims model.

For more information on any of the above, please reach out to your WSIB Account Executive or contact the office on (02) 9587 3500 or theteam@wsib.com.au. Alternatively you can click the link below.

As Christmas approaches, we regularly see an increase in the prevalence of armed hold ups and workplace violence or aggression.  The festive season brings joy, but it can also bring challenges for workplaces. 

Armed hold ups take various forms, from threats with a firearm, to threats with a knife or other blades.  Workplace violence and aggression can be from disgruntled, or frustrated customers and range from from verbal abuse to more extreme acts of violence. Your staff can be exposed to serious risk. 

Prevention to protect your workers

Prevention is focused on understanding your business and determining relevant strategies.  Start by completing a risk assessment, in consultation with your workers.  This helps you understand the vulnerabilities of your business, including insight from your workers on their challenges, and therefore helps you develop the most effective controls or prevention strategies relevant to you. Your risk assessment could include:

• Review of any previous incidents
• Review of differences in peak periods, low periods and special events
• Identification of the physical vulnerabilities of your workplace
• Analysis of your banking and closing procedures.

Following your risk assessment you can determine what you already do well as preventative strategies, and also areas you could improve.  Some prevention strategies include:

• CCTV
• Engaging security personnel (particularly during busy periods and closing)
• Installing time delay safes
• Consider having at least 2 people within at the workplace at any given time
• Install or implement duress alarms, either fixed or portable (for the duty manager or other relevant roles)
• Have procedures in place so that your workers know what to do in the event of an incident and TRAIN YOUR WORKERS on these procedures

For more information on this, please contact us on (02) 9587 3500, theteam@wsib.com.au, contact your account manager or click the link below.