COMMUNITY

The concept of insurance originated from a sense of community; a large group of customers contribute to a pool of funds so the unfortunate few who suffer a loss are able to repair, rebuild and recover. After all, fewer risks lead to fewer claims and that's good news for the community, our customers, our employees, and our business.

Since our Community Grants Program began in 2003 we have committed more than $4 million to over 1,100 projects in local communities across Australia. Our annual Community Grants program provides funding of between $500 and $5,000 (including GST) to support community groups and not for profit organisations in delivering local projects that help build safer communities.

The community depends on organisations that work to prevent and respond to emergency situations to save lives and property. Our support for the Salvation Army Emergency Services and ACT Home Safety Program assist their vital work in helping the community prevent and prepare for any incident.

With climate change putting us all at risk of more extreme weather conditions, we also support Conservation Volunteers Australia initiatives to protect the environment and prevent global warming.

It is the role of insurers to price products fairly according to the degree of risk, but it is an individual responsibility to insure appropriately. While individuals should retain the right to choose insurance, the consequences of not insuring or under insuring impact not only individuals but the wider community.

Insurers see the problems of under insurance every day when customers make claims and realise that they have not adequately insured their assets.

To help reduce the levels of under insurance, many insurers, including CGU Insurance, offer products such as full replacement contents cover, and recommend that customers regularly review their cover and adjust it accordingly. While insurers have a relationship, and therefore a dialogue, with those who have purchased insurance, we don't directly communicate with people who are not our customers. Those members of our community who are not insured therefore need to receive insurance information from another source.

At CGU Insurance, we are lobbying state and federal government on this issue. Underinsurance formed part of our submission to the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission and we have been working with industry bodies to raise awareness of this problem. In addition, we have a range of products to help our customers ensure they have appropriate levels of insurance, such as CGU Right Cover and Sum Insured Health Check.

As a large motor insurer in Thailand, Safety Insurance has a business interest in seeing a reduction in motor vehicle accidents. As such, the Saraburi Branch of Safety Insurance did not hesitate to join staff from the Office of the Insurance Commission (the Thailand Insurance Regulator) in helping to promote the Thai government's New Year Safe Driving Campaign that ran over the new year period in Thailand. Our involvement in the five day promotion saw our representatives provide refreshments to travellers, police and officials in an effort to reduce the death toll and injuries experienced each year as people travel for their holidays.

Our CAA business, a roadside assistance organisation based in China, took part in the road safety campaigns held by the Beijing Private Motor Vehicles Safety Service and Management Centre before the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and participated in the first China (Beijing) University Students Automobile and Cultural Festival. As the supporter and partner of this Festival, CAA carried out road safety promotional activities, and gave lectures about motor vehicle safety to students to enhance their awareness of traffic safety and improve their driving skills. CAA has also been visiting Kindergartens during the year, conducting promotions to hundreds of parents about child safety in vehicles.

In the UK, Equity Red Star offers Automated Live Event Recording Technology (ALERT) with their fleet policies. The technology enables fleet managers to monitor unsafe driver behaviour to reduce both accidents and premiums.

The in vehicle, video based safety system uses G-Force and speed sensors to identify and capture more than 50 types of unsafe driving actions and distractions, such as swerving, sudden braking and tailgating. Video and audio data is recorded 15 seconds before and after a triggered event and wirelessly uploaded to a secure web database for analysis.

Fleet managers can log in to the system and instantly assess the overall safety performance of the fleet, allowing them to identify negative trends and recommend driver counseling to reduce potential risks.

According to specialist haulage broker, Barnett & Barnett, ALERT can reduce accident frequency by more than 35 percent. Less accidents means less risk and from an insurance perspective, use of the ALERT system will significantly reduce premiums in those fleets where risk is reduced through safe driving practices.

In December 2008 the New Zealand Business Partners division won the ‘The Biggest Loser' competition, which sought to find the IAG New Zealand business unit that made the biggest reduction in their CO2e emissions over the year. The prize was a trophy and $1,000 to donate to an environmental charity of choice.

The Business Partners division chose the Kaipatiki Restoration Project on the North Shore in Auckland who are working to restore the native flora and fauna of the region. The project is designed to both engage and educate the local community, providing learning opportunities for school groups and offering people the opportunity to take part in many aspects of the restoration.

Taking their charitable contribution that bit further, Corporate Partners Operations Manager Bart Taylor and his team decided to utilise their volunteer leave to help the Kaipatiki project on a more ongoing basis. But, like many businesses, it's difficult to get the entire team out of the office for a day's volunteering without disrupting business workflow.

So Bart decided to set a challenge for his team—to schedule volunteering for groups over successive months. This would mean the entire team could still get to volunteer with Kaipatiki and the efforts would be spread over months, rather than just concentrated into one day.

Bart has driven the challenge, establishing a goal up front: Get 50 staff volunteering across 10 different volunteer days over 10 months, contributing 300 staff volunteer hours. In addition, Bart also set a challenge to collect and donate $1,500 on top of the $1,000 they initially donated from winning The Biggest Loser. Bart has kept his team up to date on how they are progressing towards their goal, sharing images and stories from each event. This is a great example of how scheduled volunteer leave really can work.

Over the past financial year Kidsafe WA, in partnership with SGIO, checked more than 300 child car restraints at locations around Perth metropolitan area. Of those car child restraints checked, on average about three quarters were found to be incorrectly installed or used. Other faults encountered included restraints over 10 years of age, loose harnesses over children and restraints not attached to anchorage points.

NRMA Insurance has been supporting Kidsafe ACT for the past six years. Kidsafe ACT currently fits or checks some 10,000 car restraints a year and hires baby capsules to about 40% of new parents. Most importantly for our ACT business, unlike NSW, the ACT government does not cover lifetime care for children in serious vehicle collisions. By collaborating with Kidsafe ACT, NRMA Insurance is helping to build their organisational capacity and supporting them to reduce the incidence of preventable injuries to children. This is achieved through an extensive network of contact with and support services to parents. More recent restraint checks conducted in Canberra have confirmed there has been a significant reduction in the incorrect choice and use of child restraints.