The Australia arm of QBE Insurance Australia has announced an alliance with wearable technology company dorsaVi. The partnership will give the insurance company access to dorsaVi’s wearable sensor technology and corresponding data insights. The wearable hardware and software features of dorsaVi are meant to reduce injury claims and workers compensation premiums which are bourne by the insurance company QBE Australia.

As per the deal signed, on-body sensors of dorsaVi will be used in actual work environments to monitor muscle activity and movement in real-time. It will also guide in the decision-making process of risk mitigating strategies and help quantity movement risk.

More on the deal

The deal is a one-year commercial collaboration between the two companies. For any insurance firm, being able to pro-actively manage risks and monitor accurate remote visibility is crucial. This helps the company in ensuring the volume of insurance claims are lower than the volume of paid premiums.

QBE Insurance Australia has already allocated $250,000 for the next 1 year to give its customer access to dorsaVi’s myViSafe and ViSafe technologies. Rob Kosova, People Risk General Manager at QBE Australia, says the technology allows customers to manage, predict and reduce the probability and consequence of musculoskeletal injuries in workplace environments. Kosova added they are excited to be working with the wearable technology company dorsaVi. He describes the company having delivered repeatable results in productivity optimisation and harm prevention.

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The need for QBE Insurance Australia and dorsaVi’s collaboration

Over the past two years, QBE Insurance Australia has been looking for ways in which they can reduce the rate of at-work injuries for workers. Kosava says new technologies behold promising future for taking on a proactive role in making the work environment safer and they are excited to work with dorsaVi’s for the same.

The emotional, physical and financial cost of the injuries can be significant. He further explains that Safe Work Australia states the total cost of workplace injury and disease at approximately 4% of the GDP. About one-third of these happen due to manual handling or body stressing. According to Safe Work Australia, work-related injury fatality rate decreased by 62% in 2018 after its peak in 2007 [1]. Affiliating with dorsaVi is a pivotal way in which the insurance company can help bring down the rate and prevent injuries from happening.

Source

[1] Safe Work Australia (2019) “Key WHS statistics Australia 2019, Work-related injury fatalities” [Online] Available from: https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/system/files/documents/2002/key_whs_statistics_australia_2019.pdf [Accessed July 2020]

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Image Courtesy: QBE Insurance