Costs
of accidents
The
occurrence of any accident will cause both direct and indirect costs.
It is important that all of these costs are taken into account when
the full cost of an accident is calculated. Different studies shown
that indirect costs or hidden costs could be more than 30 times
greater than direct costs of an accident. In other words, the direct
costs of an accident or disease represent the tip of the iceberg when
compared to the overall costs.
Direct
costs
These
are costs that are directly related to the accident and may be
insured or uninsured.
Insured
direct costs, normally include:
- claims
on employers and public liability insurance
- damage
to buildings, equipment or vehicles
- any
attributable production and/or general business loss.
Uninsured
direct costs, normally include:
- fines
resulting from prosecution by the enforcement authority
- sick
pay
- some
damage to product, equipment, vehicles or process not directly
attributable to the accident (e.g. caused by replacement staff)
- increases
in insurance premiums resulting from the accident
- any
compensation not covered by the insurance policy due to an excess
agreed between the employer and the insurance company
- legal
representation following any compensation claim.
Indirect
costs
Indirect
costs are costs which may not be directly attributable to the
accident but may result from a series of accidents.
Insured
indirect costs, typically include:
- a
cumulative business loss
- product
or process liability claims
- recruitment
of certain replacement staff.
Uninsured
indirect costs, can include:
- loss
of goodwill and a poor corporate image
- accident
investigation time and any subsequent remedial action required
- production
delays
- extra
overtime payments
- lost
time for other employees, who attend to the needs of the injured
person
- the
recruitment and training of most replacement staff
- additional
administration time incurred
- lower
employee morale possibly leading to reduced productivity
Some
of the items mentioned above, such as business loss, may be
uninsurable or too prohibitively because of the big amount of money
required.
Basic
definitions related to occupational
health and safety
Some
basic and powerful definitions related to occupational health and
safety are the following:
Health
Related
to the protection of the bodies and minds of people from illness
resulting from the materials, processes or procedures used in the
workplace.
Safety
Related to the
protection of people from physical injury. The borderline between
health and safety is ill-defined and the two words are normally used
together to indicate concern for the physical and mental well-being
of the individual at the place of work.
Welfare
Related
to the provision of facilities to maintain the health and well-being
of individuals at the workplace. Welfare facilities include washing
and sanitation arrangements, the provision of drinking water,
heating, lighting, eating and rest rooms. First aid arrangements are
also considered as welfare facilities.
Occupational or
work-related ill-health
Is concerned with those
illnesses or physical and mental disorders that are either caused or
triggered by workplace activities. Such conditions may be induced by
the particular work activity of the individual or by activities of
others in the workplace. The time interval between exposure and the
onset of the illness may be short or long.
Environmental
protection
Related
to the arrangements to cover those activities in the workplace which
affect the environment and, possibly, the health and safety of
employees and others.
Accident
Defined
as any unplanned event that results in injury or ill health of
people, or damage or loss to property, plant, materials or the
environment or a loss of a business opportunity.
Near miss
Is any incident that
could have resulted in an accident.
Dangerous occurrence
It’s
a near miss which could have led to serious injury or loss of life.
Hazard and risk
A hazard is the
potential of a substance, activity or process to cause harm. Hazards
take many forms including, for example, chemicals, electricity and
working from a ladder.
A
risk is the likelihood of a substance, activity or process to cause
harm. A risk can be reduced and the hazard controlled by good
management.
The difference
between hazard and risk
It
is very important to distinguish between a hazard and a risk – the
two terms are often confused and activities such as construction work
are called high risk when they are high hazard. Although the hazard
will continue to be high, the risks will be reduced when controls are
implemented.
The residual risk
The level of risk
remaining when controls have been adopted is known as the residual
risk. There should only be high residual risk where there is poor
health and safety management and inadequate control measures.
Industrial Accidents and
industrial safety
The industrialization
process has brought a large number of problems; one of them is related to
industrial accidents. With advances in industrial processes, new type of
dangers to life, limb and health are being increasingly introduced. Everyday
employees are injured in factories due to accidents. The accidents may be
caused as a result on any kind of unsafe activity, or act in their part or
chance occurrences, or as a result of some unsafe working conditions or unsafe
act of employees themselves, or defective plant or shop layout. The pain and
suffering of the injured as well as the emotional loss to the victims of the
accidents causing permanent disabilities are impossible to be summed up and
evaluated.
What’s the definition of
accident?
The most agreed definition
of accident is “It is an unplanned and uncontrolled event which causes or is
likely to cause an injury”.
Types of accidents in
industry
Accidents in industry can
be classified using different criteria. Specific classifications are shown in
the next lines.
According to causes of
events
Machine accidents
Machines are responsible
for a large number of accidents in an industry. Depending on the way harm is
caused, accidents from machines can be classified into the following groups:
- Contact: physical
contact of the body with any moving part of a machine;
- Impact: parts
of the body are violently hit by moving parts of machines;
- Traps: parts
of the body coming between the moving parts which mostly lead to crushing of
parts of body trapped;
- Ejection of particles: parts
projected at high velocity from the machine, which causes serious injury when
they hit the parts of the moving body.
Non machine accidents
In this type we include:
Fall of persons which can
be due to
- Tripping over obstacles on
ground
- Slipping due to oily or
greasy substances
- Running inside the shop,
sudden fear or excitement
Fall from a height which
can be due to
- Lack of firm foot hold or
unsafe postures
- Working on a machine at a
height
- Leaning from ladder to
reach a distant object
- Strike against the objects
- Pushes by other persons on
the slop
According to length of
recovery
- Lost time accidents:
lost time accidents are those in which worker loses a day or shift in which
accident occurred. These require payment of compensation to employee to
employer.
- Home-case accidents:
in this type of accidents, worker loses the remainder of shift or turn on which
the accident has occurred.
- First aid cases:
in these, workers receive first aid attention at plant hospital and then
returns to their job.
According to nature of
injury
- Fatal accidents:
in which the worker or more are killed.
- Permanent disablement:
which incapacitate an employee and makes it impossible for him to engage in any
work, which was capable of performing at the time of the accident.
- Temporary disablement:
this reduces the earning capacity of an individual in the employment.
