Accident costs statistics

This represents the statistical average of accident costs reported by clients. 

Accident Cost Table (undated). Washington, DC Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Available at http //www.fmcsa.dot.gov/facts-research/facts-figures/analysis-statistics/Revenue.htm. 

The number of damage accidents should be recorded and tabulated monthly and on a 12-month progressive basis. The damage costing statistic has two aspects and these, like the injury accident, are the direct and indirect costs. 

The most typical safety measurement tool is to track the number of accidents. The types of data needed to do this are costs of system downtime (and lost productivity and product or market share), equipment damaged during an accident, accident cleanup, equipment replacement, and, of course, personnel injuries and death (including medical costs, workman s compensation, and potential lawsuits). These data can be easily trended and tracked on a monthly or quarterly basis. You can then compare your statistics to national averages. The U.S. National Safety Council (many countries publish comparable information at the federal governmental level) publishes accident costs across all industries. These costs include estimates of lost wages, medical expenses, insurance administration costs, and uninsured costs. 

End-of-pipe measures continue to be vitally important. The largest PSM and ESH management costs are accident and incident related. If you reduce the costs of managing PSM and ESH, yet accident and incident rates rise beyond any normal statistical variation, the new system is costing the company more. Near misses are a leading indicator for accidents and incidents and should not be neglected. 

One major oil and chemical company has collected data on the cost of accidents, the equipment involved and the cause of the failure for more than 50 years. These data are analyzed annually to help decide where to focus efforts to reduce losses and/or to modify design standards to prevent recurrence. This analysis also identifies failures of the PSM and ESH management system. These can be compared with the cost of delivering the systems and adjustments made to expenditures to improve the cost/benefit balance. Any such changes must be carefully considered as normal statistical variation may cause you to take unjustified action. 

Insurance costs also depend on the safety precautions taken. When a homeowner buys fire insurance the cost depends on the type of construction and the nearness and effectiveness of fire protection equipment, as well as the value of house and its furnishings. To determine the effect of these factors a statistical analysis is made of the factors contributing to fire losses. Insurance companies are noted for not losing money, and so rates also depend on the past record of those insured. In determining automobile insurance rates the age and the number of previous accidents and traffic... 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the injury frequency rate for all manufacturing companies rose from 11.8 in 1960 to 15.3 in 1970. The National Safety Council estimates that there are around 15,000 job-related deaths each year and another 2,300,000 workers suffer disabling injuries. The total cost associated with these accidents is nearly 9,500,000,000/yr. 14 These figures are conservative,... 

The picture is similar for men. Smokers and nonsmokers did not differ in projected death rates from diseases like colon or prostate cancer, and they did not differ in rates of death by accidents. But for death by heart attack, stroke, or lung cancer, the disparities in death rates were large and evident from age 30 to old age. The rates of death from all causes at age 30 were 0.030 for smokers and 0.013 for nonsmokers at age 45, they were 0.091 and 0.039 at age 55, 0.125 and 0.066 and at age 80,0.950, and 0.650. Statistics like these are represented in cost-of-illness studies In 1995, the health care cost to U.S. society for its citizens cigarette smoking was 80 billion (Schneider Institute for Health Policy, 2001). 

The Division of Vital Statistics reports that accidents are the leading causes of death for persons in their teens and up to age 45. In industry, there is no intent to kill or injure workers yet accidents kill and maim people. Many of the injuries reported as sprains and strains often involved the back. The incidence of fatalities and injuries (along with potential monetary losses) may increase as operations become more complex. The cost of accidents in the workplaces of the United States is approximately 150 billion annually. Some examples of costly accidents are ... 

According to the NSC, the economic impact of fatal and nonfatal unintentional injuries amounted to 693.5 billion in 2009. This is equivalent to about 2,300 per capita, or about 5,900 per household. These are costs that every individual and household pays whether directly out of pocket, through higher prices for goods and services, or through higher taxes. Approximately 35,000,000 hours are lost in a typical year as a result of accidents. (National Safety Council, Injury and Death Statistics, Injury Facts, 2009)... 

Every few minutes somebody in the world dies from work-related causes and every year hundreds of thousands of employees are involved from injuries during work activities. The potential financial devastation caused by the costs associated with accidents necessitates the adoption of an improvement process in the areas of safety, health, and environmental protection. During the last years high technological progresses have been made about safety and health in working activities. Even if the safety rules have became stricter and the concept of risk assessment is now well established and forms the basis of health and safety legislation, the work injury is still a big problem as it is clearly shows by statistics related to many terrible events. 

The stringency of societal risk criteria could, amongst other, be based on cost-benefit considerations or revealed preference models that link hazard characteristics to accident statistics and risk estimates (e.g. Vrijling 1998). 

Though vehicle accidents are the headline-grabbers of this industry, on-the-job injuries deserve just as much attention. Like vehicle accidents, personal injuries and illnesses are an unfortunate and costly reality, especially in the trucking industry. In fact, government statistics tell us that truck drivers consistently suffer more occupational injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work than any other industry in the private sector. As if vehicle accidents weren t enough to worry about. 

Slips and falls may appear to be simple trivial accidents, but they result in thousands of deaths and cost billions of dollars in direct and indirect cost [59]. According to statistics compiled by the National Safety Council, falls are the second leading cause of accidental deaths. Over 40% of the dollars spent on workers compensation in the U.S. food service industry are due to the results of slips and falls. Annual expense from slips and falls is about 12,000 per restaurant for an average of 3-4 accidents per year. In 1988, for example, more than 12,000 people died from accidental falls. In public areas such as hotels, motels, and restaurants, slips and falls occur more frequently than any other accidents. Slips and falls can result in serious injuries, especially to the head and back. The floor surface is the single most important factor contributing to slips and falls. The slip-fall relationship between the floor snrface and the floor coating is also an important consideration, as it relates to liability and worker s compensation, especially in the fast food industry, where a floor can be wet or greasy. 

Trailing indicators are the traditional metrics that measure past safety efforts (Dupont Corporation 2000). When using trailing indicators, data is collected after the fact (after a number of accidents or illnesses, after two years of workers compensation, etc.). Trailing indicators provide an organization with feedback in terms of how good performance has been over a period of time. Examples of trailing indicators include accident records, loss reports, injury and illness statistics, injury costs, and workers compensation costs. 

However, accidents continue to happen. Treating an injured worker s eyes with emergency eyewash is the first, critical component to ensuring a timely and healthful recovery. Injuries that are not properly treated can result in short-term or long-term, partial or complete vision loss, the effects of which can take a large toll on a person s productivity and quality of life. The cost to employers is significant, too. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the cost incurred by workplace eye injuries exceeds 934 million per year in both direct and indirect costs. 

In recent years there have been over 5,000 annual on-the-job fatalities in this country alone. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there are approximately five injury and illness cases per year for every one hundred workers, or approximately four million total per year. The costs associated with these losses number in the billions of dollars. The staggering numbers of people involved in these accidents are a real concern. Behind the numbers are real people—smothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, spouses, sons, or daughters. They are people like Bob whose lives may never be the same again. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates there are approximately 1.5 million auto deer collisions per year, resulting in damage losses of around 1.5 billion USD, which works out to an average cost of 1,000per accident. State Farm Insurance Agency also supports these statistics, and goes on to report that, in the year 2004, there were 150 human deaths in the United States that were directly linked to car deer accidents [20J. 

The report confirms the lack of data to support other published ratios. It says For this aspect of the research [Hidden Cost of Accidents], much effort was expended trying to determine the source of the ratios that have appeared in various reports. No hard data was uncovered to substantiate any of the widely publicized ratios that had come to the attention of the researchers. (To emphasize No hard data was found in support of other statistics... 

Once all the loss-producing statistics have been compiled, the costs should be tabulated and presented. The cost of accidental losses is seldom tallied by organizations that consider them as cost of doing business. Cost can be reduced by effective safety management systems that help reduce expensive property damage and injury accidents. 

Communities, E. 2004. Statistical analysis of socioeconomic costs of accidents at work in the European Union. Luxembourg. Eurostat. 2013. Available [http //epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portaF eurostat/home/2013]. 

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