Common Industry Codes
Some of the common industry classification systems in insurance.
While not a definitive list, here are some examples of common industry classification systems we have seen.
NAICS
The NAICS standard is the government standard that replaced SIC. It is updated every five years, with the last being in 2022. You can read more about how it works here. When people refer to “NAICS” codes, they’re often referring to the a six-digit code which is associated with an industry classification.
NAICS also provides one further level of granularity that they call “Index Entries” which include several sub-industries associated with each NAICS code. NAICS didn’t give these index entries any codes, they only provided descriptions. Herald has assigned codes for each of these index entries, and most-often relies on this system for classifying businesses.
SIC
This is a government industry classification standard that is now outdated and considered deprecated. However, many carriers originally developed their underwriting methods using SIC codes, so we still commonly see these codes from carriers.
NCCI
The NCCI is an organization that developed a set of classifications that are used to help with underwriting Workers Compensation specifically. The NCCI standard is on a state-by-state basis. Then, to make life more exciting, some states took the NCCI standard and further customize it. Unlike other systems, NCCI (and its derivates) must be though of as a state-level classification. One other different between NCCI codes and other systems is that they categorize the roles individuals have within a company, not just the overall industry. So for example there is one NCCI code for “Hotels - restaurant workers” and another for “Hotels - all other works”. This makes it hard to map from NCCI to other industry standards cleanly.
GL ISO
Learn more about ISO standard here. It was developed by a private organization for insurance purposes (specifically for GL policies). Herald does use GL ISO codes for our Surplus Lines GL products.
CSP Codes
Stands for Commercial Statistical Plan. The 4-digit CSP code identifies the type of business conducted by the building’s occupants. Learn more.
GICS
Stands for Global Industry Classification Standard. Learn more.
