QBE Australia Pacific has merged its workers’ compensation and accident and health underwriting teams to create a people risk function.

The insurer says the change is part of a broader strategy to drive consistency and innovation, allowing brokers and clients to benefit from a “unified” offering of underwriting and risk management solutions.

Anthony D’Oca will lead the new team as head of people risk. He started in August and was previously head of workers’ compensation, according to his LinkedIn.

GM commercial Pat Priest said: “We’ve always been focused on helping our clients to manage people risk effectively, but bringing together these underwriting teams allows us to have better risk discussions and solutions for our brokers and customers.

“This new structure places the customer at the centre of policy creation, making it easier for us to create more personalised solutions for their evolving needs, and to have ‘total people risk’ conversations with brokers and customers.”

QBE says the single function will provide a “more integrated and impactful” offering to meet the needs of a changing workforce.

“We know brokers and customers are increasingly looking for specialised, comprehensive risk solutions, and we’re proud to be the first insurer to have unified our underwriting approach to people risk management,” Ms Priest said.