So many times when an accident happens we look at the direct cost that comes in the form of medical bills or repair estimates. The actual cost of medical services needed to take care of an injury might not be much, but when you take the time to look at the big picture, you recognize that the cost is much higher. Why? Because there are indirect costs involved. 

Today, I’m challenging you to get in the habit of determining the true cost of accidents in the workplace.

When you put all of this information together, it allows you to use it as a selling tool when you need approvals for safety-related items. You can’t sell safety unless you can give a ROI for what you are wanting to do. And you can’t do that without knowing the actual cost of what you are preventing. So it’s important to make sure you are quantifying everything.

When you know the exact cost of your accident or injury you can easily relay that to your management team. Click To Tweet

I’m going to take us through the three types of costs associated with safety-related accidents and injuries:

  1. Direct cost – The bills received to pay for something that was a result of an accident or injury.
  2. Indirect cost – The things that you pay for as a part of doing business.
  3. Emotional cost – The human factors related to the accident or the injury.

We’ll walk through how to quantify medical costs, property damage, the cost of returning to business, direct labor cost, personnel costs, productivity loss, supply cost, product damage, disposal costs, training costs, staff morale, and much more.

So many companies run on small margins. When you know the exact cost of your accident or injury you can easily relay that to your management team and, by doing so, you allow them to see the impact you have on their bottom line. But you can’t do that without the data – the real data.

Take Action

Consider the way you are currently tracking the cost of accidents and injuries in your facility. Are you tracking all of the direct and indirect costs? If not, which ones are you missing? Will you implement an initiative to quantify all of the costs, no matter how inconsequential they might seem?  

Highlights From This Episode:

  • Direct versus indirect costs
  • How to compile accident and injury costs
  • Calculating equipment and personnel down time
  • Why the true cost of accidents in the workplace matters

Links Mentioned:

NOW IT’S YOUR TURN

Which one injury or accident-related cost do you need to start tracking? Leave a comment below to let us know which one you picked.

Also – share this episode with your Safety BFF so they can enjoy it, too!

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Hi, I'm Brye (rhymes with sky)!  I am a self-proclaimed safety geek with two decades of general industry safety experience.  Specializing in bringing safety programs to a world-class level and building a safety culture, I have trained and coached many safety managers, just like you, on how to effectively manage workplace safety in the real world.   I would love to help you too.

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