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ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION

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Title: ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION


1
ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION
2
What Is An Incident?
  • Unplanned and unwanted event which disrupts the
    work process and has the potential of resulting
    in injury, harm, or damage to persons or property.

An incident disrupts the work process, does not
result in injury or damage, but should be looked
as a wake up call. It can be thought of as the
first of a series of events which could lead to a
situation in which harm or damage occurs.
Employers should investigate an incident to
determine the root cause and use the information
to stop process and behaviors that could just as
easily have resulted in an accident. Example of
an incident A 50 lb carton falls off the top
shelf of a 12 high rack and lands near a worker.
This event is unplanned, unwanted, and has the
potential for injury.
3
What Is An Accident?
  • Unplanned, unwanted, but controllable event
    which disrupts the work process and causes injury
    to people.

Most everyone would agree that an accident is
unplanned and unwanted. The idea that an
accident is controllable might be a new concept.
An accident stops the normal course of events and
causes property damage, or personal injury, minor
or serious and occasionally results in a fatality.
4
What Is An Accident?
  • An accident is not just one of those things.
  • Accidents are predictable and preventable events.
  • They dont have to happen.

Most workplace injuries and illness are not due
to accidents. The term accident is defined as
an unexpected or unintentional event, that it was
just bad luck. More often than not it is a
predictable or foreseeable eventuality. By
accidents we mean events where employees are
killed, injured, or become ill from exposure to
toxic chemicals or microorganisms (TB, Hepatitis,
HIV, etc). A systematic plan and follow through
of investigating incidents or disasters and
altering behaviors can help stop a future
accident. Lets take the 50 lb carton falling
12, for the 2nd time, only this time it hits a
worker, causing injury. Predictable? Yes.
Preventable? Yes. Investigating why the carton
fell will usually lead to solution to prevent it
from falling in the future.
5
The Tip of the Iceberg
Accidents
Accidents or injuries are the tip of the iceberg
of hazards
Investigate incidents since they are potential
accidents in progress
Incidents
Dont just investigate accidents. Incidents
should also be reported and investigated.
Criteria for investigating an incident What is
reasonably the worst outcome, equipment damage,
or injury to the worker? What might the severity
of the worst outcome have been? If it would have
resulted in significant property loss or a
serious injury, then the incident should be
investigated with the same thoroughness as an
actual accident investigation. The 50 pound
carton falls off the top shelf of a 12 high rack
and lands near a worker. The outcome of an
investigation might include correction of sloppy
storage at several locations in the warehouse,
unstable/heavy items will be stored at floor
level if possible, refresher training of stockers
on proper methods is done, supervisor begins
doing daily checks.
6
What is an Accident?
By dictionary definition an unforeseen event,
.chance.., unexpected happening..,
  • From experience and analysis they are
    caused occurrences
  • Predictable - the logical outcome of hazards
  • Preventable and avoidable - hazards do not have
    to exist. They are caused by things people do --
    or fail to do.

Fatalities
Severe Injuries
Minor injuries
Close calls
Hazardous conditions
7
Why Investigate?
  • Prevent future incidents (leading to accidents).
  • Identify and eliminate hazards.
  • Expose deficiencies in process and/or equipment.
  • You lose money when regular work stops.
  • Maintain worker morale.
  • The rule requires you to investigate serious
    accidents.

8
How To Investigate
  • Develop a plan
  • The time to develop your companys Accident
    Investigation Plan is before you have an
  • incident or an accident. The who, when, where,
    what and how should be developed
  • before the incident.
  • Accident Investigation Training, investigation
    tools and policies and procedures should be
  • developed before the incident or accident.

9
How To Investigate
  • Assemble an investigation kit
  • Investigate all incidents and accidents
    immediately
  • Collect facts

It is important to begin your investigation
immediately. Evidence disappears, the 50 lb
carton of material was cleaned up and memory
fadesthe employee was not encouraged to report
the near-miss incident and forgot about the whole
thing. When investigating incidents or accidents
be thorough in your capture of all available
facts. You might discover that many other items
were also improperly stored and that when
employees were questioned there had been several
other near misses
10
How To Investigate
  • Interview witnesses

Interview witnesses and victims in a timely
manner. LISTEN Dont blame, dont point out poor
judgment, be sympatheticLISTEN If you know for a
fact that someone broke a rule it is not
important to point that out to them at this time.
Verify with them the training they have received
and ask them if they know what happened to cause
the accident. Again, it doesnt do anyone any
good at this stage to be told it was your fault
or you knew better As an investigator, you
will often come to the conclusion that someone
engaged in an unsafe act. It is most important
to determine why they engaged in an unsafe act as
well as verify that they did or did not know
better.
11
How To Investigate
  • Write a report
  • The report should include
  • An accurate narrative of what happened
  • Clear description of unsafe ACT or CONDITION
  • Recommended immediate corrective action
  • Recommended long-term corrective action
  • Recommended follow up to assure fix is in place
  • Recommended review to assure correction is
    effective.

12
Tips for Developing A Plan
  • Develop your action plan ahead of time.
  • Your plan might include
  • Who to notify in the workplace?
  • How to notify outside agencies?
  • Who will conduct the internal investigation?

Preplanning will help you address situations
timely, reducing the chance for evidence to be
lost and witnesses to forget. All procedures,
forms, notifications, etc. need to be listed out
as step-by-step procedures. You might wish to
develop a flow chart to quickly show the major
components of program.
13
Develop a Plan Tips (continued)
  • What level of training is needed?
  • Who receives report?
  • Who decides what corrections will be taken and
    when?
  • Who writes report and performs follow up?
  • Some expansion questions on the above points are
  • Who will be trained to investigate?
  • Who is responsible for the finished report and
    what is the time frame?
  • Who receives copies of the report?
  • Who determines which of the recommendations will
    be implemented?
  • Who is responsible for implementing the
    recommendations?
  • Who goes back and assures that fixes are in
    place?
  • Who assures that fixes are effective?

14
What Should Be In The Investigation Kit
  • Camera equipment First aid kit
  • Tape recorder Gloves
  • Tape measure Large envelopes
  • High visibility tape Report forms
  • Scissors Graph paper
  • Scotch tape
  • Sample containers with labels
  • Personal protective equipment

These are some common items for a kit. What else
might be useful? Anything for specific business
or workplace that might be needed?
15
Investigate All Incidents/Accidents
  • Conduct and document an investigation that
    answers
  • Who was present?
  • What activities were occurring?
  • What happened?
  • Where and what time?
  • Why did it happen?

Root causes should be determined. Example An
employee gets cut. What is the cause? It is not
just the saw or knife or the sharp nail. Was it
a broken tool and no one reported? Did someone
ignore a hazard because of lack of training, or a
policy that discourages reporting? What are
other examples of root causes? Enforcement
failure, defective PPE, horseplay, no recognition
plan, inadequate labeling.
16
Investigate All Incidents/Accidents
  • Also answer
  • Is this a company or industry-recognized hazard?
  • Has the company taken previous action to control
    this hazard?
  • What are those actions?
  • Is this a training issue?

17
Begin Investigations Immediately
  • Its important to collect evidence and interview
    witnesses as soon as possible because evidence
    will disappear and people will forget.

18
How Do You Investigate?
  • Notify individuals according to your plan
  • You must involve an employee representative, the
    immediate supervisor, and other people with
    knowledge
  • Grab your investigation kit
  • Approach the scene

19
Actions At The Accident Scene
  • Check for danger
  • Help the injured
  • Secure the scene
  • Identify and separate witnesses
  • Gather the facts
  • First, make sure you and others dont become
    victims! Always check for still-
  • present dangerous situations. Then, help the
    injured as necessary.
  • Secure the scene and initiate chains of custody
    for physical evidence.
  • Identify witnesses and physical evidence.
    Separate witnesses from one another
  • If physical evidence is stabilized, then begin
    as quickly as possible with interviews.
  • REMEMBER, BE A GOOD LISTENER

20
Fact Finding
  • Witnesses and physical evidence
  • Employees/other witnesses
  • Position of tools and equipment
  • Equipment operation record, charts,
  • Equipment identification numbers

21
Fact Finding
  • Take notes on environmental conditions, air
    quality
  • Take samples
  • Note housekeeping and general working environment
  • Note floor or surface condition
  • Take many pictures
  • Draw the scene

Some scenes are more delicate then others. If
items of physical evidence are time sensitive
address those first. If items of evidence are
numerous then you may need additional assistance.
Some scenes will return to normal very quickly.
Are you prepared to be able to recreate the scene
from your documentation? Consider creating a
photo log. The plot should describe the date,
time, give a description of what is captured in
the photo and directionality. Link to sketch of
accident scene.
22
Interview Witnesses
  • LISTEN
  • Dont blame, just get facts
  • Talk to witnesses as equals
  • Keep conversations informal

23
Interview Witnesses
  • Choose a private place to talk
  • Ask open ended questions
  • Interview promptly after the incident
  • Ask some questions you know the answers to

Your method and outcome of interview should
include who is to be interviewed first who is
credible who can corroborate information you
know is accurate how to determine the truth
bases on a limitation of numbers of witnesses.
Be respectful, are you the best person to conduct
the interview? If the issue is highly technical
consider a specialist, this may be an internal
resource or it may be an outside resource.
24
Write The Report
  • How and why did the accident happen?
  • A list of suspected causes and human actions
  • Use information gathered from sketches,
    photographs, physical evidence, witness statements

Remember that your report needs to be based on
facts. All recommendations should be based on
accurate documented findings of facts and all
findings and recommendations should be from
verifiable sources.
25
Write The Report
Answer the following in the report
  • When and where did the accident happen?
  • What was the sequence of events?
  • Who was involved?
  • What injuries occurred or what equipment was
    damaged?
  • How were the employees injured?

26
Report Conclusions
  • What should happen to prevent future accidents?
  • What resources are needed?
  • Who is responsible for making changes?
  • Who will follow up and insure implementation
    of corrections?
  • What will be future long-term procedures?

Conclusions must always be based upon facts found
during your investigation. If additional
resources are needed during the implementation of
recommendations then provide options. Having a
comprehensive plan in place will allow for the
success of your investigation. Success of an
investigation is the implementation of viable
corrections and their ongoing use.
27
Report A Death or Hospitalization (Catastrophe)
  • Report the death, probable death, or the
    in-patient hospitalization of 2 or more employees
    within 8 hours.

The required information that must be provided 1-
Name of the work place 2- Location of the
incident 3- Time and date of the incident 4-
Number of fatalities or hospitalized employees 5-
Contact person 6- Phone number 7- Brief
description of the incident
28
  • The ultimate purpose of incident investigation
    and analysis activities is to prevent future
    incidents. As such, the investigation or analysis
    must produce factual information leading to
    corrective actions that prevent or reduce the
    number of incidents.
  • The more complete the information, the easier it
    will be for management to take effective
    corrective actions. All incidents should be
    investigated, regardless of severity of injury or
    amount of property damage.

29
The minimum data set that investigators should
record includes the following
  • If data will be used to compare one company with
    another, record data about employer
    characteristics. This includes the type of
    industry and the size of the company (number of
    full-time equivalent employees).
  • Record employee characteristics. The victim's age
    and sex, the department and occupation in which
    he or she worked, and whether a full-time,
    part-time, or seasonal employee. Questions about
    the victim's experience are also asked.
  • How long has the victim been with the company?
  • How long in current occupation?
  • How often had the employee repeated the activity
    engaged in when the incident occurred?
  • Employee training records may be examined and
    assessed during this part of the investigation.
  • Record the characteristics of the injury.
    Describe exactly the injury or injuries and the
    part or parts of the body affected by the
    incident.

30
  • Prepare a narrative description and accident
    sequence that provides the exact location of the
    incident (attach any maps or diagrams to the
    report)
  • a complete, specific breakdown of the sequence of
    events leading to the injury or near-miss
  • what objects or substances were involved in the
    incident
  • conditions such as temperature, light, noise, and
    weather pertaining to the incident
  • whether any preventive measures had been in
    place and
  • The investigators should include only the facts
    obtained during the investigation they should
    not record opinions or place blame.
  • Record the characteristics of the equipment
    associated with the incident. These data should
    be incorporated into the narrative description on
    the report form. Include the type, brand, size,
    and any distinguishing features of the equipment,
    its condition, and the specific part involved.
  • Record the characteristics of the task being
    performed when the incident happened the general
    task (such as repairing a conveyor) and the
    specific activity (such as using a wrench).

31
  • Record the time factors. The investigation should
    record the time
  • of day and whether it was the victim's first
    hour of the shift, second hour, or later.
  • Record the task and activity factors. First,
    describe the general type of task the employee
    was performing at the time the injury occurred.
    Second, record the specific activity in which the
    employee was engaged.
  • Record supervision information. Indicate in the
    appropriate place on the form whether the
    employee was being supervised directly,
    indirectly, or not at all at the time of the
    incident.
  • Record the causal factors. Record the events and
    conditions that contributed to the incident. Be
    as specific and complete as possible.
  • Describe the corrective actions taken immediately
    after the incident to prevent a recurrence,
    including temporary actions.

32
  • ESTIMATING INCIDENT COSTS
  • Although most executives want to make their
    company a safe place to work, they also have a
    responsibility to run their business profitably.
  • Definition of Work Incidents for Cost Analysis
  • Work incidents, for the purpose of cost analysis,
    are unintended occurrences arising in the work
    environment. These incidents fall into two
    general categories
  • (1) incidents resulting in work injuries or
    illnesses
  • (2) incidents causing property damage or
    interfering with
  • production.
  • Method for Estimating
  • To be of maximum usefulness, cost figures should
    represent as accurately as possible the specific
    experience of the company.
  • Estimated costs of incidents in general do not
    take into account differences in hazards from one
    industry to another.
  • Because of the differences between direct and
    indirect costs are difficult to maintain, instead
    they use more precise terms "insured" and
    "uninsured" costs. Using these data, a company
    can estimate its incident cost with reasonable
    accuracy.

33
  • Insured Costs
  • Every organization paying compensation insurance
    premiums recognizes such expense as part of the
    cost of incidents. In some cases, medical
    expenses too, may be covered by insurance. These
    costs are definite and known. They include the
    insured element of the total incident cost.
  • In addition to these costs, many other costs
    arise in connection with incidents.
  • Although the expense of damaged equipment is
    easily identified, others, such as wages paid to
    the injured employee for downtime on the day of
    the injury, are hidden. These items include the
    uninsured element of the total incident cost.
  • Uninsured Costs
  • While insured costs can be determined easily from
    accounting records, uninsured (also called
    "indirect") costs are more difficult to assess.
    The method described here is one way to calculate
    these added expenses associated with many
    incidents.

34
  • The first step is to conduct a pilot study
  • Determine approximate averages of uninsured costs
    for each of the
  • following four classes of incidents
  • 1. Class 1-Cases involving lost workdays
  • days away from work or days of restricted work
    activity
  • 2. Class 2-Medical treatment cases
  • requiring the attention of a physician outside
    the facility
  • 3. Class 3-Medical treatment cases requiring only
    first aid
  • local dispensary treatment and resulting in
    property damage of less than 100 or loss of less
    than eight hours in work time
  • 4. Class 4-Incidents that either cause no injury
    or cause minor injury, not
  • requiring the attention of a physician, and that
    result in property damage of 100 or more, or
    loss of eight or more employee-hours.
  • Once average costs have been established for each
    incident class, they can be used as multipliers
    to obtain total uninsured costs in subsequent
    periods. These costs are then added to known
    insurance premium costs to determine the total
    cost of incidents.

35
  • Example of a Cost Estimate
  • An estimate of costs made by one company is given
    in the following example. First, a pilot study
    was conducted to obtain the average cost of each
    class of incident.
  • Included in the study were 20 Class 1 incidents,
    30 Class 2 incidents, 50 Class 3 incidents, and
    20 Class 4 incidents. Costs were determined and
    averages developed in Table 7-A.
  • During the entire year, the company had 34 Class
    1 incidents, 148 Class 2 incidents, and 4,000
    Class 3 incidents. No record was kept of the
    Class 4 incidents after the pilot study was
    completed. Instead, the ratio of the number of
    Class 4 to Class 1 incidents found in the pilot
    study was used.
  • This ratio was shown to be about 1 to 1, and
    since there were 34 Class 1 incidents during the
    year, it was assumed there were about 34 Class 4
    incidents. (A separate record could be kept of
    the number of Class 4 incidents.)

36
  • TABLE 7-A Average Cost Determined by Pilot Study
  • __________________________________________________
    _
  • Class of Number of
    Average of
  • Accidents Accident Reported
    Uninsured cost
  • ______________________________________________
  • Class 1 20
    251.10
  • Class 2 30
    80.80
  • Class 3 50
    15.70
  • Class 4 20
    507.10
  • The average cost for each incident class was
    applied to these totals to secure the results
    shown in Table 7-B.
  • The estimate should be rounded to three
    significant digits-in this case, to the nearest
    thousand dollars. As a result, in this instance,
    the analyst reported to the plant manager,
    "During the past year, incidents cost this
    company about 155,000 in compensation, medical
    expense, lost time, and property damage."
  • The average costs determined in this pilot study
    represent the actual experience of this
    particular organization.

37
  • Table 7-B. Estimate of Yearly Accident Costs
  • __________________________________________________
    ______

  • Average Cost Total
  • Class of Number of per Accident
    Uninsured
  • Accident Accidents (from pilot study)
    Cost
  • __________________________________________________
    ______
  • Class 1 34
    251.10 8,537.40
  • Class 2 148
    80.80 11,958.40
  • Class 3 4,000
    15.70 62,800.00
  • Class 4 34
    507.10 17,241.40
  • Total Uninsured Cost
    100,537.20
  • Insurance Premiums
    54,400.00
  • Total Accident Cost for the Period
    154,937.20

38
  • Items of Uninsured Cost
  • Important to a pilot study is a careful
    investigation of each incident to
  • determine all the costs arising out of it.
  • The following items of uninsured or indirect
    costs are clearly the result of
  • work incidents and are subject to reasonably
    reliable measurement.
  • 1. Cost of Wages Paid for Time Lost by Workers
    Who were not Injured.
  • These are employees who stopped work to watch or
    assist after the incident or who lost time
    because they needed the equipment damaged in the
    incident or because they needed the output or the
    aid of the injured worker.
  • 2. Nature and Cost of Damage to Material or
    Equipment.
  • The validity of property damage as a cost can
    hardly be questioned. Occasionally, there is no
    property damage, but a substantial cost is
    incurred in reorganizing material or equipment.
  • 3. Cost of Wages Paid for Time Lost by the
    Injured Worker, other than Workers' Compensation
    Payments.
  • Payments made under workers' compensation laws
    for time lost after the waiting period are not
    included in this element of cost.
  • 4. Extra Cost of Overtime Work Necessitated by
    the Incident.
  • The charge against an incident for overtime work
    is the difference between normal wages and
    overtime wages for the time needed to make up
    lost production, and the cost of extra
    supervision, and other extra services.

39
  • 5. Cost of Wages Paid to Supervisors for Time
    Spent on Activities Concerning
  • the Incident. The most satisfactory way of
    estimating this cost is to charge the wages
  • paid to the supervisor for the time spent away
    from normal activities as a result of the
  • incident.
  • 6. Wage Cost Caused by Decreased Output of
    Injured Worker after Return to Work.
  • If the injured worker's previous wage payments
    are continued despite a 40 reduction
  • in output, the incident should be charged with
    40 of the worker's wages during the
  • period of low output.
  • 7. Cost of Learning Period of New Worker.
  • If a replacement worker produces only half as
    much in the first two weeks as the injured
  • worker would have produced in the same time for
    the same pay, then half of the new
  • worker's wages for the two weeks' period should
    be considered part of the cost of the
  • incident.
  • 8. Uninsured Medical Cost Borne by the Company.
  • This cost is usually that of medical services
    provided at the plant dispensary. There is no

40
  • Conducting a Pilot Study
  • The purpose of the pilot study is to develop
    average uninsured costs for different classes of
    incidents that can be applied to future incident
    totals.
  • Therefore, it is desirable not to include the
    costs of deaths and permanent total disabilities.
    Such incidents occur so seldom that the costs
    should be calculated individually and not
    estimated on the basis of averages.
  • OFF - THE - JOB DISABLING INJURY COST
  • When incidents take place off the job, a major
    portion of the costs are borne by employers. Some
    of the costs are obvious, such as insurance
    premiums and wages paid to absent employees.
  • Some of the costs are hidden, such as training
    for new or transferred workers and medical staff
    time demanded for workers returning to work after
    an incident.
  • For example, a new worker does not produce at the
    same level as an experienced worker thus, the
    decreased productivity of the new worker
    indirectly increases the manufacturing overhead.

41
  • Categorizing OTJ Disabling Injury Cost
  • The cost of off the job disabling injuries (O T J
    DI) to an organization falls into the following
    two categories insured and uninsured.
  • Most uninsured costs are hidden. Aside from wage
    costs, most organizations do not keep records of
    uninsured costs. However, these costs are
    associated with all O T J D I incidents and,
    therefore, affect profit margins.
  • Insured Costs worker productivity cost,
    product loss, and equipment damage. directly
    associated with the employee who sustained the O
    T J D I injury are included in this expense
    subcategory.
  • Uninsured Costs worker productivity cost,
    product loss, equipment damage, and
    administrative cost. incurred by personnel
    other than the employee who sustained the OTJ DI
    injury are included in this subcategory.
  • Miscellaneous costs This subcategory includes
    loss of profit for cancelled contracts or orders
    and the costs of demurrage (compensation),
    telephone calls, transportation, or other
    miscellaneous expenses.

42
  • Estimating O T J D Costs
  • Some experts say the ratio of insured cost to
    uninsured cost is 32. In order to estimate a
    company's losses from employee OTJ D I s,
    management must first determine the insured cost.
  • Next, using the 32 factor, it must rise the
    insured cost to determine the total (insured and
    uninsured) employee costs. The insured cost for
    injuries to dependents of employees is then added
    to the total employee cost to determine total
    losses. The following examples illustrate
    calculation procedures.

43
  • Example 1
  • Company A is insured by an outside carrier.
    Twenty percent or 225,000 of its annual premium
    charge was required to pay for its previous
    calendar year OTJ DI incident experience. Of that
    total, 75,000 was required for 11 employee
    injuries and the remaining 150,000 was required
    for 22 employee-dependent injuries. These figures
    include the administrative fee paid by the
    company to the carrier.
  • The total cost for employee-dependent injuries is
    a conservative figure, since it does not include
    the administrative cost incurred by the company's
    insurance office staff to process claims. If this
    cost is known, it should be added to the employee
    dependent injury expense category.
  • When the 75,000 insured cost category is
    escalated to include the uninsured cost category,
    the total expense for employee injuries becomes
    125,000.
  • Company A Estimated OTJ DI Costs
  • Insured cost for employee injuries 75,000
  • Uninsured cost for employee injuries 50,000
  • Insured cost for
  • Employee dependent injuries 150,000
  • Total annual estimated OTJ DI cost 275,000

44
  • Example 2
  • Company B is insured by an outside carrier. Its
    carrier stated that 850,000 was paid for 138
    employee injuries and 1,800,000 was paid for 279
    employee-dependent injuries for its previous
    calendar year OTJ DI incident experience.
  • Their administrative fee to the carrier was 6 of
    the total cost, resulting in a cost of
    approximately 900,000 for employee injuries and
    1,900,000 for employee dependent injuries. If
    the cost for insurance office staff
    claim-processing is known, it should be added to
    the total employee-dependent cost.
  • Escalation of the insured cost category for
    employee injuries include the uninsured cost
    category indicated a total of 1,500,000.
  • Company B Estimated OTJ DI Costs
  • Insured cost for employee injuries
    900,000
  • Uninsured cost for employee injuries
    600,000
  • Insured cost for
  • employee-dependent injuries
    1,900,000
  • Total annual estimated OTJ DI cost
    3,400,000

45
  • Example 3
  • Company C is self-insured. Insurance office
    records indicated that for the previous calendar
    year, OTJ DI incident experience for the amount
    of medical and health claims paid for 350
    employee injuries was 2,280,000, and 4,700,000
    was paid for 690 employee-dependent injuries.
  • Insurance office staff administrative costs for
    claim processing should be added to the employee
    dependent cost category if that cost is known.
  • Thus, 2,280,000 escalated to include the
    uninsured cost category for employee injuries
    resulted in a total cost of approximately
    3,800,000.
  • Company C Estimated OTJ DI Costs
  • Insured cost for employee injuries
    2,280,000
  • Uninsured cost for employee injuries
    1,520,000
  • Insured cost for
  • employee-dependent injuries
    4,700,000
  • Total annual estimated OTJ DI cost
    8,500,000

46
  • Measuring the Effects of OTJ Safety Programs
  • Calculations of average costs are useful tools to
    support initiating or accelerating off the job
    safety awareness programs. The calculations also
    can be used to measure the effects of safety
    programs.
  • For example, 350 employees of Company C
    experienced OTJ injuries during the previous year
    for a total of approximately 3,800,000 and an
    average cost per incident of approximately
    10,860.
  • Based upon the OTJ DI loss experience, top
    management allocated 50,000 from the budget to
    initiate a safety awareness program.
  • At the end of the year, the 10,860 average cost
    figure will be escalated to adjust for inflation
    and, in turn, the new figure will be used to
    calculate losses.
  • For illustration purposes, it is assumed that the
    new average cost per incident figure is 11,500
    and that employee injuries were reduced from 350
    to 300.
  • Calculations (300 x 11,500) indicate losses of
    3,450,000, a savings of approximately 350,000
    from last year's total. The estimated net return
    is 300,000, which is a 600 return on
    investment.
  • To further support justification for operating
    funds, safety personnel can add savings realized
    from reduced employee-dependent injuries to the
    employee savings total.
  • This type of analysis provides a management tool
    to evaluate the impact of off-the-job disabling
    injuries on profit margins thus, it can be used
    to gain management commitment to support
    operating budgets for safety awareness programs.
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