Nearly fifty workers are injured every minute of the work week, and about seventeen workers die on-the-job every day.  If for no other reason than that you don't want to be the person who has to call the employee's spouse after an injury, you should be interested in your workers' safety.

If that's not enough to make you read this chapter, consider the costs injuries add to your business.  In addition to the direct costs associated with an injury such as doctor's bills and medication, there are huge indirect costs, which may be as much as 20% higher than the direct costs.  Indirect costs for an accident can include training and compensating replacement workers, repairing damaged property, accident investigation and implementation of corrective action, scheduling delays and lost productivity, low employee morale and increased absenteeism, and poor customer and community relations.[i]

What's more, Workers' Compensation covers only about 27% of these costs, while taxpayers cover about 18%.  The rest is the cost is split between the injured worker, the company (lower profits) co-workers (lower pay), and consumers (higher prices).[ii]

Think it can't happen to you?  You should know that small firms, particularly those who think they are too small to need a safety program, have exceptionally high injury rates.[iii]  To give you an idea of the large impact a relatively minor accident can have on your company, Lee Smith gives the following estimate:   To cover the indirect cost of an accident that had $500 in direct costs,

• A beverage bottler would have to bottle and sell 61,000 cans of soda
• A bakery would have to bake and sell 235,000 donuts
• A subcontractor would have to deliver 20 truckloads of concrete[iv]
  

Even your employees know that safety is important.  According to a study recently completed by the University of Chicago for the Public Welfare Foundation, more than 85% of workers rate workplace safety first in importance among labor standards, even ahead of family and maternity leave, minimum wage, paid sick days, overtime pay, and the right to join a union.  The study also found that about 12% of workers reported an on-the-job injury during the past year. [v]

What can a good safety and health program do for your bottom line?  According to a White Paper created by the American Society of Safety Engineers, safety and health programs improve a company's bottom line through outright savings on worker's compensation benefit plans, civil liability damages, and litigation expenses, as well as by improving employee productivity and morale.  In addition, they note, "it can also make the difference between winning and losing bids and even government contracts."[vi]

Managing Safety by Improving Human Performance

The top ten causes of disabling injuries in 2009 were

            10.  Assault

            9.  Worker strikes part of body against an object

            8.  Repetitive motion injury (such as carpal tunnel)

            7.  Worker is caught in or compressed by something

            6.  Highway incidents

            5.  Worker is struck by a moving object

            4.  Worker twists or turns in reaction to slipping or tripping without falling

            3.  Worker falls from one level to another

            2.  Worker falls on level ground

            1.  Overexertion[vii]

If you look closely at these top ten causes, you will notice that most, if not all, of them have at least an element of human performance error, which is why managing safety by managing human performance makes so much sense.