How Much do Workplace Injuries Really Cost?
In today’s work environment, safety-related costs can be the contrast between reporting a profit or a loss.
Workplace injuries and illnesses have a major impact not only on the injured on sick workers but also on an employer’s bottom line. Per OSHA, it’s been estimated that employers pay somewhere around $1 billion per week for direct workers’ compensation costs alone.
OSHA studies estimate that a good safety and health program can save $4 to $6 for every $1 invested. When injuries and illnesses decline, workers’ compensation costs go down – that’s a substantial amount of money businesses can save.
Injuries and illnesses include direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include workers’ compensation payments, medical expenses, and costs for legal services. Examples of indirect costs include training replacement employees, accident investigation and implementation of corrective measures, lost productivity, repairs of damaged equipment and property, and costs associated with lower employee morale and absenteeism.
To help workers estimate the financial impact of injuries and illnesses, OSHA has created a free of charge $afety Pays program. The $afety Pays program is a cost estimator that is intended to be a tool to raise awareness of how occupational injuries and illnesses can impact a company’s profitability.
The program is not intended to provide a detailed analysis of a particular company’s occupational injury and illness costs. The indirect cost estimates provided in this program are taken from the Business Roundtable publication, Improving Construction Safety Performance, and are based on a study by the Stanford University Department of Civil Engineering.
Generate a report of the costs and the sales required to cover the cost and read more about the $afety Pays program here.
Creating a culture of safety is a great way to motivate employees to beat previous safe workday records.
