Zurich Financial Services Australia Pty Ltd

Who are Zurich?

Zurich Financial Services Australia (Zurich) is the Australian operation of Zurich Insurance Group, a leading commercial insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. In Australia, Zurich has a strong reputation in transportation and motor fleet insurance.

In the transport sector, losses can have an enormous impact on businesses, and insurance only covers part, but not all, of a loss. Injured drivers, vehicle downtime and time spent with claims investigation are all part of the cost of a loss, over and above the financial impact that can be insured. Prevention is key.

Zurich strongly believes in Fleet Risk management, and has a team of local risk engineering experts who help clients make their fleets safer and more efficient.

We are a predominantly ‘grey’ fleet. Staff use their own cars for work purposes and this is managed through our OH&S Management System.

What does road safety mean to Zurich?

As the leading Australian provider of Motor Fleet Insurance across a diverse range of industries and vehicle types, we are keen to support any initiative that promotes road safety and crash reduction. Our Risk Engineers assist our customers to understand their work-related driving exposures, and how to improve existing and implement new controls to reduce crash frequency and severity. We also educate customers to better understand the Total Cost of Crashes, and how this impacts their bottom line and profitability.

What are Zurich’s NRSPP road safety commitments?

  1. Participate fully on the NRSPP Steering Committee, providing a Corporate and Global Insurers view, tapping into our global network of motor insurance & risk experts
  2. Provide insurance and risk management opinion on emerging motor vehicle related risks technological advances such as safety features, telematics, autonomous vehicles etc.
  3. Develop guidance on Managing Grey Fleet exposures and vicarious liability
  4. Provide regular Risk Insights relating to Work-related driving topics
  5. Continued enhancements to the Total Cost of Crash Calculator
  6. Collaborate with our Customers to provide NRSPP Case Studies

Supporting Actions Delivered by Zurich Insurance

  • NRSPP Founding Partner, Mervyn Rea met with Jerome Carslake and the National Transport Commission Team during development of the program’s framework in 2011 and attended the foundation Steering Committee meeting in 2012.
  • Zurich Insurance attended the formal launch of NRSPP on the 5 May 2014 in Melbourne by Prince Michael of Kent as part of the UN Decade for Action for Road Safety at the RACV Club.
  • NRSPP Steering Committee Partner from 2013 (Inception) to present.
  • On 18 July 2014, Zurich Insurance kindly hosted the 7th NRSPP Steering Committee at its Melbourne headquarters. A key outcome from this meeting was establishing the operational governance of the programs and the introduction of Thought Leadership papers.
  • To help highlight the business case for road safety, in 2015 Zurich Insurance facilitated the webinar with Andrew Bradley the Head of Group Risk Services (GRS) for the Nestlé Group based in Vevey, Switzerland to provide a webinar on Webinar: Road Safety Beyond The Gates The Nestle Story
  • In 2015, Zurich Insurance shared the Total Road Incident Cost Calculator and worked with NRSPP to adapt it to Australia.
  • For the Australasian Road Safety Conference 2016 which was held on the Gold Coast the NRSPP deliver the Symposium: The NRSPP Providing A Pathway For Any Business/Organisation To Create A Positive Road Safety Culture which Rod Baker presented at.
  • In 2017, Mervyn Rea joined Jerome Carslake to present at the Australasian Fleet Managers Association (AfMA) Conference on the Total Cost of Road Incidents and how the calculator can be utilised to assist with the establishing the business case for workplace road safety.
  • Zurich Insurance attended the NRSPP Grey Fleet workshops in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne providing active guidance and input in the development of the NRSPP Grey Fleet Guide.
  • In 2018 Zurich Insurance joined the High Occupancy Vehicle Working Group and supplied claims data relating to these vehicles to help understand their risk profile and trend over time.
  • Zurich Insurance kindly hosted the Empowr Mobility scoping workshop with industry partners at its Melbourne head quarters on the 31 July, 2019.
  • In 2019, NRSPP Program Director Jerome Carslake presented at Zurich Insurance Victorian Public Service Fleet Session on “Why we all need to manage driver behaviour”.
  • Zurich Insurance has continuously championed the program, promoted its resources and assisted in providing input and linkages to its clients to assist in developing Q&As.
  • In 2021, Zurich Insurance through Peter Johansson joined the NRSPP Heavy Vehicle Tool Box Talk Working Group.

Zurich Financial Services Australia Pty Ltd's Contributions to the NRSPP & Points of Contact

Peter Johansson

Senior Risk Engineer

Zurich Insurance has assisted with developing the topic list, their industry peer review and promotion of the TBT amongst their clients.

Mervyn Rea

Head of Risk Engineering, Australia & NZ

Zurich Insurance is recognised as one of the Founding Partners of NRSPP with Mervyn Rea kindly helping design and build the foundational elements of the program during its establishment phase.

A key contribution of Zurich Insurance through Mervyn Rea was input into the National Transport Commission’s consultation 2011-2013 in identifying what the NRSPP’s framework should consist of and how to ensure it directly benefits workplace road safety.

Mervyn also attended the formal launch of the NRSPP on the 5 May 2014 in Melbourne by Prince Michael of Kent as part of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety Meeting in Melbourne at the RACV club.

NRSPP wishes to recognise the contributions of Zurich Insurance and Meryn Rea for helping develop the program.

Mervyn Rea

Head of Risk Engineering, Australia & NZ

Zurich Insurance Is Recognised As A Founding Steering Committee Partner To The Present

Zurich has included a number of its Risk Engineers as part of its representation on the Steering Committee. Below is a list illustrating their active support

  • Mervyn Rea: 2012 – present
  • Jeremy Ball: 2018 – present
  • Richard Kirkham: 2015 – 2018

Zurich Insurance kindly hosted the 7th Steering Committee on 18 July 2014 at their office in Melbourne office.

Mervyn Rea and Peter Johansson

Head of Risk Engineering, Australia & NZ and Principle Risk Engineer

Zurich Insurance kindly hosted on the 31 July 2019 the scoping workshop which has led to the development of Empowr Mobility. Key outcomes from the workshop include:

  • Confirmation of the model in providing ex-fleet vehicles through a lease approach to aspiring young people suffering transport disadvantage. The  vehicles are managed as a fleet as a service approach with in-vehicle telematics and guiding automated educational nudges to help improve the drivers behaviour.
  • Empowr Mobility should first conduct a number of pilots to demonstrate proof of concept.

Mervyn Rea and Richard Kirkham

Head of Risk Engineering, Australia & NZ and Principle Risk Engineer

Zurich Insurance through Mervyn Rea and Richard Kirkham were founders of the Grey Fleet Working Group. Mervyn attended the Melbourne workshop which Telstra kindly hosted and Richard the Brisbane workshop which Sanofi kindly hosted.

A key output of the Working was the Grey Fleet Guide.

NRSPP Australia » NRSPP Guide: Grey Fleet Safety Management

 

Richard Kirkham

Principle Risk Engineer

Zurich  Insurance kindly supplied insurance data relating to High Occupancies Vehicles which helped provide insights in relation to understanding the type of incidents and claims these vehicles have been involved in and trends over time.

The HOV working group was placed in Maintenance mode when only two partners with these vehicles were willing to participate in potential research projects to understand the risk and develop solutions.