essay
Accidents’ Costs
Accidents have obvious, direct costs such as medical, hospital, and rehabilitation expenses, workers' compensation payments, and higher insurance premiums or even loss of insurability. But, accidents have less obvious, indirect costs that are usually uninsured.
Accidents’ Costs : The Iceberg Effect (1/3)
Direct Costs
These include:
Depending on the company, sick and compensation leave, etc., the worker may experience a loss of income.
If the injury or illness is serious enough, there is a real possibility that the worker may not return to work.
Doctor and hospital or medical bills are sure to be of major concern to both the worker and employee.
Accidents’ Costs : The Iceberg Effect (2/3)
Indirect Costs:
These include:
Suffering that is endured by the worker’s family.
The employer pays for missed work days. Work is not performed yet the employer still has no pay salaries and wages.
Compensation payments and medical expenses.
Lower moral or negative attitudes by other workers.
Loss in productivity.
Repair to damaged or replacement costs.
Retraining or replacing workers.
Accidents’ Costs : The Iceberg Effect (3/3)
It is nearly impossible to determine the actual costs of an accident, injury or work-related disease. Some estimates have placed the indirect costs as 10 times than the initial direct cost.
Accident and ill-health costs can be likened to an iceberg: costs that are recoverable are visible but those that are unrecoverable are hidden below the waterline and are many times greater.
Can we achieve zero harm?
Risk assessment is a skill you learn and usually use all through your lives. It presumes that accidents are avoidable and that you can take steps to eliminate and/or minimize the effect.
Experience shows that most accidents can be prevented. Certainly some are more preventable than others. Why then are people hurt? Is it lack of training, lack of time, lack of resources or just putting safety into the “too hard” and “low priority” baskets until someone is actually hurt?
The main objective of WHS is to be moved from “too hard” basket to the “in-tray”
Why bother?
Welfare of the employees and their families- maintain them and enhance them
Community expectations-show responsibility
Community costs-reduce them
Legal requirements-comply with them
To protect the workplace health and safety of employees, subcontractors, visitors and nearby public, governments have passed Acts, supported by Regulations and Codes of compliances that determine minimum health and safety standards for workplaces.
However, WHS is not just the responsibility of governments and employees, manufacturers, designers, suppliers, and importers. It is also the responsibility of every employee in every workplace, with additional responsibilities for owners, managers, supervisors and forepersons.
Work/occupational health and safety defined.
Occupational health should aim at:
The promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well- being of employees in all occupation;
The prevention among employees of departures from health caused by their working conditions;
The protection of employees in their employment from risk resulting from factors adverse to health;
The placing and maintenance of the employee in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological equipment.
References
Work Health and Safety: A Complete Course for CIV and Diploma Courses BSB41412 and BSB51312, First Edition
©2014 | Stoll, McGill, Ritchie | McGraw-Hill Higher Education — Australia & New Zealand
Author: Stoll, Mike, author
Titlle: Work Health and safety; a complete course for CIV and diploma courses BSB41412 and BsB51312/Mike Still, Caroline McGill, James Ritchie.
ISBN: 9781743077467 (paperback)
Subjects: Safety education, Industrial-Australia.
Industrial hygiene-Study and teaching-Australia.
Industrial safety-Australia.
Other Authors/
Contributors: McGill, Caroline, author.
Ritchie, James Edward,1982-author