Cost of Accidents

All injury cases, whether minor or major, result in financial loss to the organization in addition to irreparable loss for the family members in case of a fatal accident. The cost of accidents comprises two components: Direct cost and Indirect cost.

• Direct costs include the

a. Cost of medical treatment; and

b. Compensation for loss of earning capacity/permanent disability/fatality

• Indirect costs pertain to:

a. Production loss and time loss of co-workers;

b. Idle time of machine and damage to equipment;

c. Loss of morale of workers in the unit;

d. Loss of time of supervisory personnel in submitting report/accident analysis;

e. Loss of efficiency of injured persons after reporting for duty;

f. transportation charges;

g. administrative and legal expenses;

h. company's reputation being at stake;

i. cost of training the substitute employee;

j. business interruption and failure to meet schedule; and

k. investigation by statutory authorities and penalties imposed by them.

Indirect costs usually vary from 5 to 11 times that of direct cost.