Keep Safe Stay Cool Complete Guide - Importance of safety at workplace | Page 7
10. Know your rights. Organisations such as WorkSafe Victoria or unions can offer
information and advice on workplace safety issues.
V.
Safety Pays for Everyone
Why should you put the effort into improving workplace safety and health?
Work-related injuries, illnesses and deaths are costly to everyone. A safe and healthy work
environment pays, in more ways than one.
In Maine each year about 17,000 workers lose time from work because of job-related injury
or illness. The National Safety Council estimates the average cost of a lost-time injury to be
$33,000 in 2002. That's $561,000,000 wasted each year in Maine alone.
At $170 billion a year nationwide, the direct and indirect costs of work injuries and illnesses
equal those of cancer, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
These are only financial costs. There's no way to know the value of the quality of life lost to
injuries and illnesses.
For Workers
Work injuries and illnesses can affect every aspect of life for workers and their families.
For workers, injuries or illnesses can cause:
Loss of life,
Pain and suffering,
Loss of income and financial well-being,
Stress on relationships,
Loss of job or career,
Health-care costs beyond what is covered by insurance.
Workers may also suffer from low self-esteem, loss of independence, mental health
problems, other medical problems, and damaged relationships.
For Employers
A safe and healthy workplace not only protects workers from injury and illness, it can also
lower injury/illness costs, reduce absenteeism and turnover, increase productivity and
quality, and raise employee morale. In other words, safety is good for business. Plus,
protecting workers is the right thing to do.
Employers can save $4.00 to $6.00 for every dollar spent on a safety and health program.
Workplaces with successful safety and health management systems reduce injury and illness
costs 20-40%, according to OSHA.
For a small business, one injury can mean financial disaster. Costs to a business include:
Production losses