International Safety Rating System

Some personal background

I have been in a position to witness its development after I joined INA in 1968 and attended courses as ISA in 1972 and at ILCI in 1976 and 1978. I worked with the predecessors of the ISRS around mid 1970 and with the ISRS between 1978 and 1991.

I had my own consulting firm - Loss Control Centre (LCC) - between 1985 and 1991 based on agreements with Frank Bird. In 1978 I obtained the rights to ISRS and related training materials, to include "Management Guide to Loss Control", for a major part of (Western) Europe which was later limited to Benelux and France when I started my own company in 1985. I used to be a member of the International Safety Rating Council.

International Safety Rating Council, 1989 meeting Chicago

INA Total Loss Control (TLC) system (late sixties and early 1970's) 

I joined INA (Insurance Company of North America) in 1968. In 1969, I met Frank Bird for the first time when he gave a presentation for British Steel. After that I met Mr Bird in 1970 at the INA Head Office, 1300 Arch Street, Philadelphia Pa. and learned about the INA Total Loss Control service system. 

Before Frank Bird came to INA, he worked for Lukens Steel in Pennsylvania. At that time the steel industry in the US used an audit system: "Auditing company safety Programs, American Iron & Steel Institute Committee on Safety". In 1966 Frank Bird published the book "Damage Control" together with George Germain broadening the safety scope to include property damage accidents.

The TLC system was developed during the early seventies to provide the INA insured companies with guidelines to improve their safety performance and results.

See an example of what the TLC audit reference looked like. This one is on products liability.

ILCI - The Consultant's Guide to Safety and Loss Control (mid 1970's)

From INA Philadelphia, Frank Bird moved to INA subsidiary ISA (International Safety Academy) in Macon Ga., before he set up ILCI (International Loss Control Institute) in 1973 as a self-owned entity. It was there that the TLC system moved on to what was called the "Consultant's Guide on Safety and Loss Control". It was from there that the ISRS was developed in 1978.

An example of the Consultant's Guide.

And an example of the abbreviated version, the "Mini Profile".  

ILCI - The International Safety Rating System (1978)

In 1978 the first edition of the ISRS saw the light. Its international development was supported by organizations such as RosPa in the UK and the IAPA in Canada.

In Europe, ILCI Benelux was founded in 1981 as a daughter of the Dutch insurance group Hudig Langeveldt (now AON) and the management training organization MOC, daughter of management consultants Berenschot and Bosboom & Hegener. BP was one of the larger companies to use the ISRS internationally. Borg Warner (later General Electric Plastics Europe) and Unocal were among the first to use the ISRS on the European continent.

I took over ILCI Benelux as a private undertaking in 1985 and, in 1988, renamed it LCC (Loss Control Centre) which I sold to Det Norske Veritas (DNV) in 1991 following the acquisition of ILCI by DNV after Mr. Bird signed a letter of intent in 1989.

Safety Management and the ISRS

"Safety & Loss Control and the International Safety Rating System (ISRS)", an article that I wrote over 20 years ago in which you can find much of the concepts and thinking represented on my website.

DNV - The International Safety Rating System (1991 till present)

In 1991 DNV (Det Norske Veritas) took over ILCI in the USA with its international connections, as well as the LCC operation in Benelux. Through these acquisitions, DNV became the worldwide owner of the ISRS. For the latest information regarding the ISRS and its use, contact DNV.