Integrated approach to electrical safety at Royal Cosun
February 21, 2023
Many years of cooperation between Riskonet and international agricultural cooperative, Royal Cosun, have resulted in a high level of risk management. As part of a next step in further improving risk management, together with the Belgian I-care, Riskonet has introduced the integrated inspection of electrical safety.
With business units that include Aviko, Cosun Beet Company, Duynie Group, Sensus and SVZ, Royal Cosun is active all over the world, explains Riskonet managing partner Ron de Bruijn. “Being able to organise risk management in an integrated way is very important for the group. And in collaboration with Cosun’s risk-management department, the strength of our worldwide network has enabled us to do exactly that. We regularly carry out on-site Gap Assessment Asset Safety (GAAS) inspections and provide the necessary support in implementing improvements. During these past few years, we have incrementally contributed to achieving what has become an impressively high level of risk management for this client.”
GAAS inspections provide insight
A dynamic group like Cosun continuously invests in innovative production methods, so there are always opportunities to take risk management to a higher level, continues De Bruijn. During several GAAS inspections, for example, it transpired that a recurring point of attention was electrical safety at Cosun’s production locations. And while this was often tackled professionally at local level, a group-wide approach was still lacking. “Given that consistency is a key ingredient in the controllability of risks, we therefore advised Cosun to hire a specialist to carry out uniform thermographic and visual inspections of the electrical installations in its production facilities worldwide.” Following a selection process, Cosun teamed up with the Belgian specialist I-care, a company that also serves other international clients of Riskonet.
“Fire caused by electrical failure is a major risk and our insurer was impressed by our new programme for reducing risks in the area of electrical safety”
Jeroen Helders, group insurance and risk manager at Royal Cosun
Better insurance position
I-care is an independent company that has no vested interests in carrying out repairs and improvements to installations, insists De Bruijn. “They focus exclusively on the actual inspections and provide recommendations to both Cosun and Riskonet. These recommendations can then be followed up by the local technical department, either in collaboration with contractors, or otherwise,” he adds. Jeroen Helders, Royal Cosun's group insurance and risk manager, uses an online dashboard to maintain an overview of the situation. “Fire caused by electrical failure is a major risk and our insurer was impressed by our new programme for reducing risks in the area of electrical safety. We were pleased to see that, even in a difficult insurance market, we were then able to take out a policy on favourable terms.”
Read more about the Cosun I-care case here.
