The purpose of the research is to assess usefulness of the implemented and certified management systems for preparation and provision of insurance. Data was collected by means of non‑real‑time, time‑extended, text‑based online focus groups, obtained via Bulletin Board platform. Respondents were selected according to judgmental sampling, and were insurance sector experts. The template analyses of the interview transcript supported by a narrative approach were conducted. The research demonstrated that environmental insurance and ISO 14001 environmental management systems (EMSs) at present, remain in Poland almost entirely independent of each other. Representatives of insurance industry do not use the information about the system implementation while preparing and providing insurance cover. ISO 14001 EMSs present little credibility for insurance experts and according to the respondents, their implementation does not significantly and undoubtedly affect the level of the covered risk. Consequently, insurance buyers do not profit from insurance (lower premiums, improved insurance scope) resulting from the implementation of ISO 14001 systems. Industry representatives, however, use – albeit unconsciously – systemic documentation in the process of preparation and provision of insurance cover. They also examine systemic processes performed in the organisation at the stage of risk assessment. Improvement of credibility of certification process, based on profound cooperation between certification institutions and insurance industry may increase the importance of ISO 14001 EMSs for the process of preparation and provision of insurance cover.

No abstract

Standardized Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) appeared in the 1990s. They are voluntary tools for managing the relation between the organization and its environment. Multiple analyses indicated the strong external context of EMS. More often than not, the importance of ISO 14001 EMS for the relation between the organization and its insurer has been indicated. The goal of this research is to answer the question how to assess the usefulness of ISO 14001 EMSs adopted by the insured or insurance seeker for the process of environmental insurance products' provision. The structure of the specific measure (checklist) is the result of the analysis. The research is conducted in four steps: (1) analysis of environmental insurance proposal forms for stand-alone products on the Polish market, (2) analysis of the general terms and conditions of the above, (3) review of ISO 14001 requirements, and finally, (4) template analysis of the interview transcript, supported by narrative approach.

The first purpose of the research was to assess the dependence between the organisational decision-makers willingness to implement systemic solutions relevant to insurance (RSSs) and the attributes (systemic, awareness-related and organisational) of an organisation managed in accordance with ISO 14001. Another purpose was to identify the motivators that drive entities to implement additional system elements.Earlier studies suggest that the structures of currently implemented ISO 14001 EMSs should be modified in order to increase their utility for the process of insurance provision. The research problem was solved based on data obtained through an online survey among organisations implementing and certified ISO 14001 EMSs in Poland. Depending on the type of variables, the independence chi-square test, U-Mann-Whitney test, and the test of Spearman’s rank correlation, among others, were used for analysis. The results of the study may help build integrated environmental risk management tools. They indicate the legitimacy of using non-insurance motivators (e.g. reduction of environmental fees) to achieve the desired EMS structure in the organisation from the insurers' point of view. At the same time, they emphasise the need to build environmental risk awareness (including, among other things, the risk of liability for environmental damage and its severity) to achieve the above.

The numerous studies of risk perception to date have been focused on three different areas of the subject. Firstly, researchers have aimed at the identification of risk perception determinants, secondly, they have created recommendations on how to communicate the risk to society, and finally they have analysed the relationships between risk perception measures and the means of risk control implemented in organizations. The last indicated research area is complemented by the following paper. On the basis of data derived from online interviews it was concluded that the higher the assessment of the measures of environmental insurance risk perception, the more frequently organizations implemented selected means of risk control in the environmental management system according to ISO 14001 (EMS ISO 14001). The largest number of statistically significant dependencies were observed in the area of variables which describe the informative potential of EMS ISO 14001 (informative potential variables) and those which directly determine the volume of environmental insurance risk (the volume of risk variables). Simultaneously, not all categories of risk perception measures are equally related to the frequency of risk control means implementation. A particularly large number of statistically significant correlations were identified for the following variable: the evaluation of the likelihood of the occurrence of environmental damage.