Off-The-Job Safety
Section II
Overcoming the Indifference
In view of these alarming numbers, why has off-the-job safety been largely ignored?
Is an "Accident" Really an Accident?
A basic reason employers and society don't pay more attention to off-the-job safety, is that the word "accident" is used incorrectly.
The dictionary defines accident as "an unexpected and undesirable event, something that occurs unexpectedly or unintentionally, fortune or chance." There is no quarrel with the undesirable reference, but the belief that accidents are unexpected or the result of fortune or chance is misleading.
For example, is an accident unexpected when someone using a ladder reaches out too far instead of taking time to reposition the ladder, and then falls? Does an accident occur by fortune or chance when a person consistently tailgates and then slams into the driver ahead of him in a moment of inattention? Is it fate when a boater drinks too much and then collides with another boat on a lake at night?
The obvious answer is no! Most off-the-job accidents can be better described as failures. They are failures on our part and failures on the part of others. Stating that someone was killed or injured in an accident tends to exonerate the person responsible.
The National Safety Council has recognized that usage of the word "accident" is inappropriate, and has removed the term "accidental" from its mission statement.
Old Statement: "The mission of the National Safety Council is to educate and influence society to adopt safety and health policies, practices and procedures that prevent and mitigate human and economic losses arising from accidental causes and adverse occupational and environmental health exposures."
New Statement: "The mission of the National Safety Council is to educate and influence society to adopt safety, health and environmental policies, practices and procedures that prevent and mitigate human suffering and economic losses arising from preventable causes."
The Council said it will seek better ways to describe such incidents and encourage people to think of risk causes. The word accident is inaccurate in safety usage because it implies bad luck, chance or fate.
Unaware of Costs and Potential Savings
Most employers are simply unaware of what their human and financial costs are. In fact, off-the-job accident costs will exceed on-the-job accident costs in many organizations.
Some of the lack of awareness is due to the fact that off-the-job medical costs do not receive much attention in business publications. When employers focus on medical costs the primary emphasis has been on finding less expensive medical treatment. That's fine as far as it goes, but it is more cost effective to eliminate the causes of the expenditures in the first place.
This lack of knowledge is easily remedied by making a cost study. After the costs are determined, for-profit companies should divide the total costs by their pre-tax profit margin to determine the revenue needed to pay for off-the-job accidents. This amount will be a real eye-opener for employers.
Table 2. is a summary of a cost study done by a corporation with over 60,000 employees. Over 90% of the costs represented medical costs.
(This study was done in 1991. The dollar amounts are not representative of
current costs.)
| Table 2. Off-the-Job Accident Cost Study |
| Category |
# of Cases |
Lost Days |
Wages Paid |
Medical Expenses |
Benefits |
Claims Adm. |
Total Costs |
| Employees |
1,715 |
12,158 |
972,640 |
6,881,694 |
291,792 |
203,952 |
8,350,078 |
| Dependents |
3,128 |
|
|
12,550,860 |
|
371,989 |
12,922,849 |
|
Total |
4,843 |
12,158 |
972,640 |
19,432,554 |
291,792 |
575,941 |
21,272,927 |
The actual costs were even higher. These figures do not include long term
disability payments, training costs, some recurring medical expenses, lost
sales and lost productivity. For example, a serious car accident might require
lifetime back therapy for an employee. Those costs will probably not be charged
to the accident medical categories in future years. Table 3 is an example
of a cost study worksheet. Your claims administrator can provide the medical
expenses by summarizing costs for the universal accident medical codes 800-999.
Basic steps in determining costs:
(1) Human Resources (HR) furnished Medical Expenses from annual summary of ICD-9
shown below Table 3. Assigned Medical Expenses to employees and dependents based
on ratio of employees to dependents.
(2) No. of Cases were estimated by dividing Medical Expenses by average medical
expenses per workers' compensation case.
(3) Lost Days were estimated by multiplying No. of Cases by average lost
workdays per workers' compensation case.
(4) Wages Paid were estimated by multiplying Lost Days by average wages paid per
day.
(5) Benefits were estimated by multiplying Wages Paid by normal benefits
percentage.
(6) Claims Administration costs were estimated by multiplying No. of Cases by
average cost per benefit case.
Table 3
Summary Of Off-The-Job Accident Costs
| Medical Expenses for employees |
$ |
| Medical Expenses for dependents |
|
| Wages Paid to injured employees
|
|
| Benefits Paid to injured employees
|
|
| Claims Administration costs
|
|
| Costs to train replacement workers
|
|
| Reduced productivity |
|
| Lost sales |
|
| Other |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| TOTAL COSTS |
$ |
Types Of Injury And Poisoning*
800-829 - Fractures
830-839 - Dislocations
840-848 - Sprains and strains of joints and adjacent muscles
850-854 - Intracranial injury, excluding those with skull fracture
860-869 - Internal injury of chest, abdomen and pelvis
870-897 - Open wound
900-904 - Injury to blood vessels
905-909 - Late effect of injuries, poisonings, toxic effects and other
external causes
910-919 - Superficial injury
920-924 - Contusion with intact skin surface
925-929 - Crushing injury
930-939 - Effect of foreign body entering through orifice
940-949 - Burns
950-957 - Injury to nerves and spinal cord
958-959 - Certain traumatic complications and unspecified injuries
960-979 - Poisoning by drugs, medicinal and biological substances
980-989 - Toxic effects of substances chiefly nonmedicinal as to source
990-995 - Other and unspecified effects of external causes
996-999 - Complications of surgical and medical care not elsewhere
classified
*Incidents are classified on the basis of the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
Basic Steps In Determining Off-The-Job Accident Costs
Medical
Expenses
Your Claims Administrator can furnish
total Medical Expenses from an annual summary of ICD-9
codes.
Determine Medical Expenses for employees and dependents from the annual
summary, if possible. Otherwise, assign Medical Expenses to employees and
dependents based on ratio of employees to total number insured.
Wages Paid To Injured Employees
Step 1: Determine number of cases from annual
summary, if possible. Otherwise, estimate number of cases by dividing total Medical Expenses
for employees by average medical
expenses per workers' compensation case.
Step 2: Estimate lost workdays by multiplying number
of cases by average lost workdays per
workers' compensation case.
Step 3: Estimate Wages Paid by multiplying lost
workdays by average wages paid per day.
Benefits Paid To Injured Employees
Estimate Benefits Paid by multiplying Wages Paid by normal benefits percentage.
Claims Administration Costs
Estimate Claims Administration costs by multiplying
number of cases by average
cost per benefit case.
Other Costs
Estimate based on data from workers' compensation
analyses, if available.
Examples of Successful Programs
Organizations with strong off-the-job safety programs cut their expenses significantly. Following are some examples:
The off-the-job accident rate of Du Pont's employees is less than 1/2 the rate of the general public. DuPont has an aggressive off-the-job safety program that includes employee meetings and safety articles in its company publications. In their safety meetings they frequently spend half the meeting on off-the-job safety topics. They also track the off-the-job accident rates of their employees by plants. And safety is one of the factors that goes into determining the performance evaluation of managers.
Several years ago Armco launched a program called "Safety for the Family." The results were striking. Reports showed that after four years, the number of Armco people killed in off-the-job accidents was down from 16 to only one. The total number of off-the-job injuries was down 47% in five years. Days lost from work because of off-the-job injuries dropped 36%.
A mining company in a small community used several safety program tools to prevent injuries to employees and their families over a vacation period. Not one employee was injured or involved in a serious accident during the vacation. The previous year they had 23 serious accidents involving employees, including two fatalities.
Not My Responsibility
Historically no one claims responsibility for off-the-job safety. The focus of safety professionals is on-the-job safety, and wellness experts emphasize nutrition and exercise.
In addition, many employers do not feel it is their place to tell people how to live their private lives, or that they can affect how people lead their lives. This philosophy of avoidance is at odds with the concept behind wellness programs, however.
Why do employers think it is good business to influence people's eating habits and exercise patterns, but then ignore trying to influence safety habits? Wellness and off-the-job safety programs have the same goals, i.e., in both programs you're trying to influence people in a way that helps the employer and the employees.
In this regard, the emphasis on wellness programs and the lack of emphasis toward off-the-job safety is short-sighted. Eating a piece of chocolate cake once in a while will not harm most individuals, but virtually everyone who falls down a flight of stairs will require medical treatment.
Avoiding Accidents Is Merely Common Sense
Some employers feel that avoiding off-the-job accidents merely requires common sense. That's no more true than saying avoiding on-the-job accidents merely requires common sense.
Just the routine acts of driving a car, cooking, or cutting the grass require knowledge and a safety-conscious attitude. Just one mistake can cause a costly and tragic accident.
For example, almost any employer with a vehicle fleet will have an extensive driver safety program. And yet this same organization will provide no defensive driving material to the rest of its work force and the employees' dependents. It doesn't matter where an automobile accident occurs, the medical and other expenses will still impact the bottom line.
