QBE Insurance Group has released a set of online self-assessments for Australian businesses, a step that places the insurer among carriers extending their role from pricing and paying claims toward helping customers reduce exposures before losses occur – and one aimed at a customer segment that established risk-advisory services have tended to bypass.
The insurer said in a media release dated July 9, 2026, that the assessments, developed by its Risk Solutions team, guide a business through questions tailored to its operations and return a report with recommendations, risk mitigation tips, and supporting resources. The initial assessments cover property, liability, motor fleet, and ESG (environmental, social, and governance), with QBE stating it intends to widen the range over time. Businesses reach the tools through the Tools & Resources section of the QBE Risk Solutions website and submit a request via RiskAdvance, the insurer’s risk management platform.
Risk-advisory work is established territory for commercial insurers, which gives the launch a competitive rather than novel character. Allianz Commercial markets risk consulting and what it terms proactive risk management services in Australia, drawing on engineers and industry specialists. Zurich runs a closer analogue: through Zurich Resilience Solutions (ZRS) it offers risk-engineering services alongside a digital tool, Zurich Risk Advisor, that produces assessment reports, including a light version the company says can be completed in about 10 minutes. IAG operates at both ends through CGU, pairing engineer-led Risk Partners advice for larger accounts with Cylo, a CGU-backed cyber offering for businesses with revenue up to $10 million that is built around a risk-assessment questionnaire and ongoing monitoring.
QBE’s differentiation lies less in the concept – self-service assessment has already reached the small-business segment in cyber – than in applying it across property, liability, motor, and ESG for businesses without dedicated risk teams. The insurer said the tools are built for businesses at any stage of their risk journey, including those without in-house risk or safety functions. That segment is most of the market: the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) counted 2,729,648 actively trading businesses as of June 30, 2025, of which 994,178 were employing businesses, leaving approximately 1.7 million with no employees. It is also a segment in which brokers frequently carry responsibility for surfacing exposures, and in which the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO) has reported sustained demand for practical, implementable guidance on compliance and risk.
Free assessment tools also serve the insurer’s side of the ledger, generating underwriting-relevant data on a customer’s controls and seeding broker conversations outside the renewal cycle. The commercial logic is shared across the carriers offering them: Insurance Business Australia, in partnership with FM, has noted that brokers and insurers can deepen client engagement on loss prevention by applying technology to monitoring and mitigation.
The regulatory floor has risen. Industrial manslaughter offences commenced in South Australia and for the Commonwealth public sector on July 1, 2024, according to law firm HFW’s state-by-state analysis. New South Wales followed on July 1, 2025, while Tasmania had not introduced a standalone industrial manslaughter offence at that time. Maximum corporate penalties reach $20 million in New South Wales, while several jurisdictions – including Western Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales – prohibit or restrict insurance and indemnity arrangements covering monetary penalties under their work health and safety laws.
Fatality data indicates where those exposures concentrate. Safe Work Australia recorded 188 worker deaths from traumatic injuries in 2024, with vehicle incidents accounting for 42%, or 79 deaths, the single largest category – a pattern that corresponds with QBE leading its promotion with the Motor Fleet assessment.
Anthony D’Oca, general manager, commercial and people risk at QBE Australia Pacific, described that assessment in the release. “For example, our Motor Fleet Self-Assessment helps businesses take a clear, practical look at everything from vehicle maintenance schedules to driver onboarding and safety initiatives, giving them actionable insights to improve efficiency and potentially reduce risk exposure,” he said.
The ESG module reflects a different pressure. Mandatory climate-related financial reporting is phasing in, with the largest entities (Group 1) reporting for financial years from January 1, 2025, Group 2 from July 1, 2026, and mid-sized Group 3 entities from July 1, 2027. Most small businesses sit below even the Group 3 threshold, but the regime reaches them indirectly, as reporting entities request emissions and governance data from suppliers up and down their value chains. Operational-risk expectations have also tightened: The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s (APRA) Prudential Standard CPS 230 Operational Risk Management took effect on July 1, 2025.
The wider backdrop gives insurers commercial reasons to push prevention. A PwC survey published in 2025 placed Australian insurers’ risk readiness at a four-year low and trailing global peers. The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) reported that insured extreme-weather losses over the past five years total around $22.5 billion, a 67% increase on the previous five-year period, and that about 1.36 million properties face some flood risk, 298,000 of them severe to extreme. Against constrained capacity and affordability pressure, reducing the frequency and severity of losses is a lever insurers can pull alongside pricing.
D’Oca framed the tools as extending beyond compliance. “This isn’t just about being compliant – it’s about building safer and smarter operations,” he said. He added: “Every business carries risk – the question is whether it’s understood or how it is managed. These tools enable businesses to take stock, ask the right questions, and start strengthening their operations before risk turns into disruption.”
QBE, founded in Townsville, Queensland, in 1886, is headquartered in Sydney, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, and operates across three divisions in 26 countries. The insurer said customers who proceed with an assessment are asked to review and agree to its privacy policy and self-assessment terms, and that the accompanying material does not constitute advice.
