NTI and the human side of specialist claims
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At the heart of claims may be a person whose recovery is nuanced and ongoing, particularly across specialist industries, where support can extend well beyond repairing or replacing damaged equipment
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EVEN IN a fatal incident, items can be assessed, valued and settled through the usual claims process. But the human fallout requires a much different approach.
Kanani Draper, head of claims operations at NTI, recalls an incident that underscores this point and illustrates why repairing or replacing an asset can sometimes be the most straightforward part of a claim.
“One example that has stayed with us involved a highly respected driver who was completing his final run before retirement when he was tragically involved in a fatal collision caused by another vehicle,” says Draper.
Yes, the vehicle needed replacing, but the business and people left behind needed something more.
“There was an insurance claim to manage, but the most meaningful part of our role was supporting the people affected,” she says.
The vehicles, vessels and equipment NTI’s customers rely on have become safer, faster and cleaner. The cargoes they carry are now more delicate and time-sensitive than ever before. With over 50 years’ experience in the insurance industry, NTI has always been successful in finding new ways to keep its customers moving, across the heavy vehicle, mobile plant and equipment, and marine industries. Its combination of tailored products, experienced people, accredited repair and recovery networks and industry advocacy has seen NTI ranked as Australia’s #1 specialist insurer. Yet insurance is just a piece of paper, a promise. It’s not until you really need an insurer that you understand its point of difference – the NTI Difference.
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“When we first introduced trauma counselling, the transport industry was sceptical, but we saw a rapid shift, to the point that these days it’s considered the norm”
Alan Hasted,
NTI
That support reached well beyond the driver’s own family and into his long-time workplace.
“We arranged counselling for employees and their families and helped the business respond to significant media attention, allowing them to focus on helping one another through an incredibly difficult time,” Draper adds.
This type of response is not an improvised exception. Across the business, NTI treats a serious incident as something that affects people as much as it affects the customer’s livelihood and shapes its support around that principle from the moment a claim is lodged. It’s an approach that runs through everything from how a claim is assigned to how NTI talks to a customer’s employees and family in the days that follow.
Alan Hasted, chief claims officer at NTI, describes that kind of response as central to what the company delivers and as representative of its underpinning culture at heart.
“Put simply, we walk customers through what is often one of the most challenging periods they will face, while coordinating the immediate response, taking responsibility for the accident scene, and supporting their recovery in the days and weeks that follow,” he says.
Hasted frames it as more than a service standard.
“When we say we stand in the customer’s shoes, this is what that looks like,” he says.
“We’re part of the industries we provide insurance to, and many of our people come from those industries too. That experience gives us the expertise to respond correctly, the compassion to understand, and a genuine comprehension of what may be at stake.”
A different kind of promise Hasted has been at NTI for more than three decades, long enough to watch the industry’s baseline expectations shift and
settle again. He says while the core principle behind the idea of insurance has barely moved in that time, something else has.
“The fundamentals have stayed the same, in that insurance is a promise and the expectation is that when something goes wrong, we are there for the customer,” he says.
Delivering on that promise, though, looks quite different to when he started.
“Where we once required a claim form to be filled out and mailed to us, today a customer can lodge a claim in several different ways, a way that best suits them,” Hasted explains.
But speed is only part of what has changed. So, too, has streamlined claims handling.
“A single claims consultant can manage a claim from start to finish, and the customer has their direct number,” he says.
That single point of contact is designed to hold together everything that follows once an incident is reported. For Draper, the order of priorities is set from the first call.
“Our priority is people first, assets second,” says Draper.
For the largest and most complicated incidents, that priority pulls in the kind of help and specialist expertise most customers may never have considered.
“For significant, complex incidents, NTI’s specialist Claims Services and Incident Response teams may become involved early,” she adds.
“Because we specialise in the transport, logistics, marine and mobile plant industries, we understand that the same incident can have very different consequences for different customers”
Kanani Draper,
NTI
a whole,” he says, noting NTI as a foundation partner of Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds.
Research shows the importance of supporting workers through trauma in the workplace. In 2024, 188 workers died from traumatic injuries on the job in Australia, according to Safe Work Australia, a fatality rate of 1.3 deaths per 100,000 workers. Transport, postal and warehousing was Australia’s most dangerous industry by fatality count in that year, with 54 worker fatalities (29% of all workplace deaths) and a fatality rate of 7.4 per 100,000 workers.
Each of those workplace deaths can ripple out to affect up to 20 family members, colleagues and close friends, according to research from the University of Sydney and UNSW published in Frontiers in Psychiatry. In a small firm, a majority of workers could suffer some form of mental distress from an incident. A separate study from Monash University’s Accident Research Centre found that coworkers exposed to a workplace fatality can go on to develop depression, PTSD and anxiety disorders, with the investigative processes that follow sometimes compounding the original trauma.
Hasted says more active use of crisis management in insurance has followed a similar trajectory to the higher profile of mental health in society over the last decade.
“More businesses are using it and realising its value,” he says.
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Published 6 Oct 2026
Depression
PTSD
Adjustment disorder
Anxiety disorder
Suicidal ideation
The in-house ripple effects of a death on the job
Coworkers exposed to a fatal workplace
incident can develop:
Source: Rawlings, Muir & Ayton, Monash University Accident Research Centre, 2026
Source: Safe Work Australia 2024 data
1.3 deaths per 100,000 workers
in all occupations
WORKPLACE Fatality rates
in Australia
7.4 deaths per 100,000 workers
in transport, postal and warehousing occupations
A greater focus on wellbeing and care Not every part of NTI’s comprehensive claims response has always been adopted early on by the customer. Trauma counselling, built into NTI’s claims offering, was once met with hesitation from the industry it was designed to serve.
“When we first introduced trauma counselling, the transport industry was sceptical, but we saw a rapid shift, to the point these days it’s considered the norm,” says Hasted.
He connects that change to a wider shift in how workplaces talk about health and wellbeing and bringing it to the forefront.
“I think that’s reflective of the shift and focus we’re seeing in the importance of mental health and wellbeing across industry as
Why reputation moves as fast as recovery
Draper puts that particular shift down to something entirely outside NTI’s control: how fast information now travels once an incident happens.
“With social media and mobile technology, incidents can become public within minutes, often before all the facts are known,” she says.
For a customer already managing shock and disruption, media enquiries, online commentary and speculation can create another layer of pressure.
“Customers are increasingly seeking our help with media
enquiries, stakeholder communication, social media activity and responses to misinformation,” Draper says. “It is another way we can stand beside them and help protect the business and livelihood they have worked hard to build.”
This support can help shift the narrative and make space for facts over speculation. It is about helping a customer communicate carefully and compassionately while allowing their people to focus on the immediate needs of those affected.
Approaching the fork in the road with confidence With every incident bringing its own unique and often complex challenges, NTI’s experienced claims people are trusted to make informed decisions about the support required, drawing on their expertise and understanding of each person’s circumstances.
“The decision is usually made very early by the claims consultant handling the matter,” says Draper.
That early ownership is built into how claims are assigned in the first place.
“One of the strengths of NTI’s claims model is that each claim is assigned to a dedicated claims consultant who takes ownership of the matter and coordinates the response from start to finish,” she says.
The size of a claim rarely predicts how complicated it will turn out to be.
“Because we specialise in the transport, logistics, marine and mobile plant industries, we understand that the same incident can have very different consequences for different customers,” Draper says.
Hasted adds that acting on judgement quickly matters as much as making the right call in the first place.
“Each claim is unique in its circumstances, but timeliness is always an imperative. It’s critical that our people can identify what is stopping them from making a decision and act on that too,” he says.
What brokers may not see
Brokers who place business with NTI are nearly always familiar with its strong industry reputation. Fewer, according to Draper, know what happens once a claim actually lands on a consultant’s desk.
“Many brokers know NTI for our specialist expertise across transport, logistics, marine and mobile plant, but what they may not always see is the depth of experience and support available behind the scenes when a customer experiences an incident,” she says.
Hasted returns to the same point that opened the conversation, the one that runs underneath everything NTI does with a claim once it lands.
“For us, claims have always been about more than assessing damage. They’re about understanding what’s important to the customer, minimising disruption where we can and helping businesses get back to doing what they do best,” he says.
Disclaimer: Product descriptions, benefits, statistics and timeframes are general, illustrative only and based on NTI data and/or averages and are not guarantees of individual outcomes.
2026 NTI Limited. General information only. Policy terms, conditions, exclusions, limits and underwriting criteria apply. When making decisions about insurance, consider the PDS and TMD on nti.com.au/. National Transport Insurance is administered on behalf of the insurers by its manager NTI Limited, ABN 84 000 746 109, AFSL 237246.