The Insurance Industry as a Qualified Third - Party Auditor

A SAFETY, HEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL and risk management professionals are stakeholders in issues involving safety, health and environmental protection. The insurance industry, in particular, is a major participant in the modern safety movement. As such, it exerts substantial influence on SH&E protection and regulatory compliance in various industrial, nonindustrial and commercial areas (including boiler and machinery safety, fire safety, building and construction safety, and security). Many would argue that the insurance industry’s influence through underwriting criteria—especially premium credits for good safety performance and premium surcharges for increases in risks—has been a primary societal influence on improving overall community safety (Collins “A Proposal”; Halpern and Splain). In today’s complex world, the ability of government agencies such as OSHA and EPA to monitor and audit the safety practices of companies that use environmentally sensitive processes and materials is limited. Budgetary and resource constraints, as well as the large number of potential sites and facil-