The Insurance Association of Sri Lanka (IASL), declared the commencement of the Life Insurance Sales Awards 2018 at a media conference held recently. The review period for the awards, which were previously limited to the Insurance month of September, has been upgraded to cover the whole year from 2018 onwards.
The Life Insurance Industry Sales Awards was initiated in 2017 and is implemented in 2018 with the aim to raise the standard of Insurance sales professionalism, recognize and reward the performance and potential of Insurance Sales Professionals, and improve the penetration level of the Life Insurance market in Sri Lanka. The expansion of the review to a yearlong period will be a driving force for the Insurance sales professionals.
Insurance sales is often a challenging profession, the true nature of the Insurance sales personnel requires one to be trustworthy and understanding of clients’ needs, going beyond a mere sale of a policy. It accounts for grasping the individual expectations of each policyholder. The Life Insurance Sales Awards are designed in a way that these characteristics, along with the personality of the Advisors, soft skills and talents are enhanced, and turn around the perception of Insurance Sales as a profession; the true superheroes in Life Insurance.
The awards presented will be The Best Advisor, The Best Supervisor/Team or Unit Leader and The Best Branch Manager under the categories of Life Insurance Sales Category Winner and Life Insurance Sales National Winner. Reviewed under several benchmarks, the awards will give an opportunity for nominees to be highlighted in their careers and build a strong professional personality which will enable them to perform better as Life’s Superheroes, who they truly are.
This is the latest of many initiatives undertaken by the IASL in its endeavors to increase the penetration of Insurance as a whole in the country. In the recent past, the IASL was able to have the Cabinet of Ministers declare the 1st of September each year as the National Insurance Day and a commemorative stamp was launched in September last year.
Further, various initiatives are conducted from time to time in order to spread the concept of Insurance and also to enlighten the general public of the option of taking to Life Insurance sales which is in fact a very lucrative and promising profession.
Asbestos is in fact a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals, which comes under two contrasting groups viz. Serpentine and Amphibole. Serpentine group consists of only Chrysotile, while Amphibole group comprises Crocidolite, Amosite, Anthophyllite, Tremolite, and Actinolite.
While other varieties of asbestos have ceased to exist in the commercial world, Chrysotile continues to be used by 150 countries across the world including the USA, and is used by two thirds of the world populace.
Due to the growing concerns raised by various factions on the use of asbestos, representatives of the world's major Chrysotile exporting mines signed an agreement, where they pledged to supply Chrysotile fibre only to those companies that demonstrate compliance with national health and safety regulations. Accordingly, the International Chrysotile Association devised the specific standards, technologies, and work methods pertaining to the relevant compliance, and this is collectively known as the ‘controlled-use of Chrysotile’.
According to the recommendations of the WHO experts, the controlled-use of Chrysotile allows the continued use of Chrysotile in high-density products that comply with the permissible exposure limit of 0.1f/cc or below.
Furthermore, following the discovery of carcinogenic properties in Amphibole (Blue) Asbestos, both epidemiologically and toxicologically, Amphibole is no longer used for commercial purpose. A convention held by the WHO in 1989 convening international experts further declared to prohibit the use of these varieties of asbestos; however, it further allowed the controlled and regulated use of Chrysotile within the permissible exposure limit of 0.1fiber/ml in the workplace.
Sri Lankan scenario on asbestos
Locally, the term Asbestos is hackneyed and synonymous with the roofing sheets.Sri Lanka only uses Chrysotile (white asbestos), which is very much less hazardous in comparison to Amphibole varieties.
Sri Lanka began manufacturing Chrysotile fibre cement roofing sheets since 1954, and even after a lapse of seven decades Chrysotile roofing sheets by far surpass their major counterparts in terms of quality, durability and affordability traits.
Key advantages of using Chrysotile roofing sheets
A Chrysotile fibre cement roofing sheet contains only 8% of Chrysotile fibres, while the remaining 92% is made of cement and water. A thin layer of Chrysotile fibres is tightly encapsulated within a matrix of high density cement mixture, leaving no room for Chrysotile fibres to be exposed.
These roofing sheets have a number of advantages over its competitors. One of the key distinctive features of Chrysotile cement roofing sheets is its strength, resulting from the strong bonds created between Chrysotile fibres and cement. Studies have shown thatthe tensile strength of Chrysotile cement roofing sheet is higher than that of steel. Chrysotile roofing sheets are not only heat, fire and electric resistant, but are also chemically neutral, producing no detectable odour.
Since Chrysotile is a natural mineral, the roofing sheets do not cause any harm to the environment. Furthermore, Chrysotile fibres do not permeate through soil, and are not soluble in water, hence they do not pollute water or change the pH level of water. And unlike other roofing products, Chrysotile cement roofing sheets do no crumble into fragments when removed or discarded.
Chrysotile roofing sheets do not require special protective coating, and also possess the ability to withstand inclement weather as well as strong winds. Due to its robustness and unique strength, Chrysotile cement roofing sheets have more than 50 years of durability. The material is not only soundproof but also non-flammable, making it an ideal and safe roofing solution for residences, enterprises as well as plants.
0 comments: