Along with the tragic nature of a safety-related incident, there are unintentional costs and lost time that organizations might have to continuously pay for over a long period of time.
Besides the tragic outcome of an injury, illness, or even death, accidents have a huge impact on your business. It is in your best interest to make sure that the people working for you are well-trained and experienced so that an accident doesn’t happen on your watch.
Why? Here are six reasons.
1. Needless destruction of life and health is morally unjustified. We must protect life and health. The most obvious reason for proper safety training is that preventing the destruction of life and health is our primary concern as safety specialists. This is a moral obligation for the health and well-being of our employees.
2. Failure to take necessary precautions against predictable accidents and occupational illnesses makes management and workers morally responsible for those accidents and occupational illnesses. If a potential problem or threat exists, and no action steps are taken to prevent an accident, the outcome will fall on you.
3. Accidents and occupational illnesses severely limit efficiency and productivity. The third reason for preventing accidents is because accidents and occupational illnesses limit efficiency and productivity because of downtime. This is an indirect cost from an accident, but a very costly one. Replacement labor can cost your company time and resources, along with possible sick pay, repairing damaged equipment, or even OSHA fines.
4. Accidents and occupational illnesses produce far-reaching social harm. The fourth reason for preventing accidents is because accidents and occupational illnesses can produce lasting damage to your reputation. Word gets around when accidents happen and it always paints a negative picture of a company in the public eye. We’ve always said that your clients will only think as much of you as they think of your safety personnel. Sending unprepared employees to a job will hurt your reputation because you will be sending them the wrong message about your company. With the right safety staff, you can send a message that says “We take safety and the lives of our employees seriously! We do our best in everything.”
5. The safety movement has demonstrated that its techniques are effective in reducing accident rates and promoting efficiency.
6. Prevent OSHA violations. The sixth reason for preventing accidents is because state and federal legislation mandates management responsibility to provide a safe workplace, so this is a legal requirement. OSHA violations could cost you thousands of dollars a day. Even the most unintentional violation can cause serious harm to your company.
To prevent the negative ripple of a safety incident, you must be proactive and fully train your safety staff. Using a proactive health and safety process will help an organization see a large return on investment through improved productivity, improved morale, decreased time away, and lower workers’ compensation insurance costs.
We believe having well-trained, high quality, experienced safety professionals on a job site is the best way to go for accident prevention. The lives of your employees, your reputation, and your bottom line are all at stake, but they will be in good hands with ResponsAble safety professionals on site. Give us a call at225-753-1909to talk with us about your upcoming projects.