Work-related injuries cost US more than cancer
Dateline: 01/06/98Occupational injury and illness in the United States cost health plans, and indirectly businesses, more than the treatment of all cancer-related illness according to a study released this past summer. It cost more than the treatment of heart disease and significantly more than AIDS.
As the study states in its conclusion, “Occupational injuries and illnesses are an insufficiently appreciated contributor to the total burden of health care costs in the United States.”
The High Cost of Workplace Safety
The total occupational injury and illness costs in the United States in 1992 were estimated at $171 billion in a study published this summer in the American Medical Association’s Archives of Internal Medicine. The study calculated $65 billion in direct cost, plus $106 billion indirect costs. Injuries accounted for $145 billion of the cost and illnesses for the remaining $26 billion.
By contrast, the cost of cancer was $170.7 billion. Heart and all other blood vessel diseases cost the US $164.3 billion according to the study. Excluding certain administrative costs, AIDS cost the US only $30 billion compared to the $155 billion cost of occupational injury and illness with the same costs removed.
Reducing Occupational Injury Costs
The most effective way to address the issue of workplace safety cost is to make sure your company has an Environmental, Safety & Health (ESH) program in place; that the ESH program is correct and complete; and that is it adhered to by everyone in the company.
The (US) National Safety Council offers several levels of surveys to assess the actual, and perceived, condition of your company’s employee safety program. These safety surveys “benchmark your company’s performance against a nationwide database.”
Cultural Revolution
The Plant Engineering Department of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has under taken the revolution of the Safety Culture within their organization. Their article “Safety Culture Revolution” describes what lead to the revolution, how it was accomplished, and what remains to be done.
Safety Management
Safety in the workplace must be managed the way any other critical business function is managed. In addition to the cost factors discussed above, safety issues have major bearing on recruiting, market competitiveness, and the perception of your company by the public, the regulators, and stock analysts.
The consultants at Nelson & Associates provide a definition of the relationship between safety management and safety engineering. Their page on Core Principles of Safety Engineering and the Cardinal Rules of Hazard Control provides a lot of good information. They sum up the basics of safety engineering as “hazard identification, evaluation and control."
WorkSafe Western Australia, an on-line information service provided by the Western Australian Government, calls their program “ThinkSafe”. Their three steps are similar: spot the hazard; assess the risk; and make the change.
Man or Machine
Perhaps the key debate in the safety field at this time is whether accident prevention should focus on potential machine hazards or potential human factors? There is no doubt in my mind that the inventiveness of people makes them the greater hazard. As such, behavioral factors should be the initial focus.
This position is supported by the Executive Safety Committee of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Also, Behavioral Science Technology, Inc. offers numerous seminars supporting their position that “Proactive safety management means identifying, measuring, and improving safety-related behaviors upstream — before accidents happen.“
On the other hand, Nelson & Associates makes a sound argument for placing focus on the ‘machine’ side of the equation.
Further Reading
There are many valuable sources available on the Internet to help you develop or improve your company’s Environmental, Safety & Health (ESH) program. Here are some of the good ones:
Thirty Categorized Safety Links, hand picked by your guide.
John --
Special thanks to Dr. Ken Hay, of Alcoa of Australia, Ltd. for suggesting this topic.
