Cost of a Workplace Accident

Workplace injuries and illnesses cost companies approximately $170 billion dollars every year. While that number is terrifyingly high, it doesn’t tell the whole story. While most people automatically think of the financial costs that an accident brings, it’s the hidden non-monetary costs that have the ability to cause the greatest impact.

Claims, Costs, & Coping

After an accident, there is a period of recovery, which can involve expensive medical bills and time off of work. If the injury causes a loss of income, this can leave a family in financial ruin as they try to cover injury-related expenses, as well as keep up with the normal expenses involved in daily life. Relationships with family and friends may become significantly strained due to the increased stress, and the employee’s emotional support network may deteriorate.

Emotional Impact on Others

Employee morale also may be adversely affected after a workplace injury. Co-workers, company friends, and supervisors, who worked daily with the injured employee, are likely to be emotionally impacted, which may affect the quality of their work. Depending on how the accident happened, and how the company handled the aftermath, employees may become fearful or resentful towards the employer. Certain employees may even resort to workplace violence if they feel that the company poorly handled a workplace injury.

Lost Productivity on Top of Accident Costs

Should the accident be severe enough, there may also be lasting effects on work performance, which prevent the employee from continuing with their pre-injury job duties, which requires replacement employees to be hired and trained. OSHA has estimated that employers pay approximately $1 billion per week for workers compensation payments, medical expenses, and costs for legal services. This does not include the costs to train the replacement employees, accident investigations, implementation of corrective measures, lost productivity, and repairing damaged equipment and property.

Go Ahead…Calculate the Costs!

So, how does an employer put a value on these hidden costs? OSHA has developed a program called $afety Pays, which provided a selection of common injury types, and an area to input actual costs associated with an injury. Once completed, the program provides estimated direct, indirect, and total costs of the injury selected, along with the amount of sales which are needed to cover these costs. This is a great tool to get a better grasp on how much an injury actually costs, and why being proactive with your company’s safety program, thus avoiding injuries, is such an important business decision.

It’s the Law

Keeping your employees safe on the job, preventing injuries before they happen, and implementing safety training, hazard awareness, and written safety plans and procedures, is an essential step to ensuring that your workplace can be as injury-free as possible.

With this amount of impact an accident has on a business, doesn’t it make sense to do everything in your power to prevent the accident before it happens, not react to the situation once it has already occurred? Contact us today for more ideas on how to keep your workforce safe: (724) 776-1003.