Insurance, risk management and health and safety activities are often perceived to be a necessary evil and an expense that drains the business without putting anything back in.

It’s not easy to see why many businesses spend a large amount of time and money producing risk assessments and other documentary evidence to comply with legislation with little obvious reward.

There are a number of reasons why risk management is a good investment that will greatly reward your business.

Firstly, a proactive approach to risk management should mean that your business sees a reduction in the frequency and severity of accidents

Secondly, having the necessary Risk Assessments, Inspection records or training records in place means that if the worst should happen the business can offer a defence to prosecution as it can evidence what it has being doing to avoid incidents. Therefore, hopefully the business will avoid prosecution by the health and safety executive and any subsequent fine.

Thirdly, insurance premiums are directly affected by your claims experience and insurers will generally be looking at your claims experience over the last 5 years.

If you are having a number of liability claims or very large claims on your insurance your insurance premium is likely to rise accordingly and this could happen year on year if the claims continue to occur.

If you start now or have been continually carrying out pro-active risk management over a number of years your claims record should reflect this and therefore any impact rating increases you may have on your business will be minimised and as such your risk management efforts will start to see a return on your investment.

A good starting point for any business is to look at the checklist below to ensure you have the following - health and safety policy, risk assessments, training records, inspection records and competent advice.