Experience

How Much Do Businesses Spend on Safety?

Safety is crucial in every industry. Whatever the workplace looks like, from busy construction sites to bustline offices, safety keeps the work flowing. But more than that, proper safety practices keep workers healthy and reduce their risk of injury. Employees knowing they are safe ensures they can continue pursuing their personal goals while helping your business pursue its goals.

Safety requires proper action to achieve. In other words, safety will not just “happen.” While you will have to spend money to achieve a safer workplace, it beats the alternative of paying to fix the fallout after a serious injury. By improving your business’s health and safety policies, you can save money by reducing injuries and making your workplace safer for every employee.

TOP WORKPLACE INJURIES AND HOW MUCH THEY COST COMPANIES

There are several major workplace injuries that all businesses should be aware of, regardless of industry. It’s important to note that these injuries can be either fatal or nonfatal. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were over 2 million recordable nonfatal workplace injuries and nearly 5,200 fatal injuries in 2021.

Although there has been a downward trend in recorded workplace fatalities, businesses’ costs in response to those deaths are far higher than those paid for nonfatal injuries. The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that businesses spend an average of $1,100 per injured worker but pay an average of $1,310,000 per worker death. The total cost businesses paid for workplace injuries in 2020 was $163.9 billion.

The economic impact of preventable injuries is massive, but it’s important to remember that different industries and workplaces will pose different hazards with different threat levels. For instance, it’s safe to assume that office workers may have less of a chance of injury than construction workers. Still, workplace safety is essential in every workforce for keeping employees safe and happy while reducing the costs associated with workplace injuries.

Here are 10 of the top workplace injuries that contribute to the annual billions of dollars spent by companies every year:

1. Slips and falls to the same level
2. Being struck by a moving object
3. Striking stationary objects
4. Repetitive Motion Injuries (RMI’s)
5. Electrocution
6. Entanglement with mechanical or moving parts
7. Motor vehicle accidents
8. Falls from heights
9. Overexertion, including the acts of pushing, lifting, holding, pulling, carrying, and throwing objects
10. Workplace violence