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Even if your company isn’t in a high-risk industry, workplace injuries can still occur, and the costs of an injury can hurt more than just your company’s revenue. Fortunately, there are a few ways in which you can reduce the risk of worker injury. This not only saves your company money, but it also boosts workplace morale as well as productivity. Here’s what you need to know about the effect of injury on your company’s revenue.
Workers’ compensation premiums are based on several factors, including the inherent risk associated with your company’s industry and the number of claims your employees file over time. As you may have guessed, the more claims employees file, the more likely your premiums will climb. By reducing the number of injuries in the workplace, you can easily reduce the amount of workers’ compensation claims. And that helps to keep these premiums low. Here are six material handling tips for a safer workplace from ReliablePlant: https://www.reliableplant.com/Read/31195/material-handling-tips.
Another way to help minimize the financial impact of claims involves doing all you can to reduce the severity of injuries. This enables you to bring your employees back to work on light duty.
While it may not be evident at first, injuries take a toll on more than just the injured employee(s). When your employees see their coworkers hurt on the job, it can cause anxiety and a lack of morale. People may wonder if they’ll get injured and whether their workers’ compensation payments would cover their expenses if they’re not working. If employees feel that workplace issues are not being addressed, this can significantly reduce their loyalty to their employers and have a tremendous impact on their productivity.
For example, a lack of ergonomics in equipment – including casters – leads to overexertion, a significant cause of injury in the workplace. Employees who suffer from overexertion injuries typically work too hard to move or stop loads, leading to significant injury. For this reason, it is vital to choose casters designed to reduce exertion force, or to choose drive casters that allow for controlled movement. By being proactive to minimize injuries in the workplace, you can improve morale and productivity, which boosts your revenue.
Another way in which injuries can negatively affect your revenue is the money you will spend to hire and train replacement workers. This is especially problematic for smaller businesses whose employees rely on every single coworker to do their jobs effectively. Hiring and training employees is expensive, and best avoided whenever possible. For this reason, when you go out of your way to proactively prevent injuries you are also avoiding the costs associated with online job ads and employee training.
Finally, if an injury is the result of failure to comply with regulations set forth by the Occupational Safety and Health Association, or OSHA, there are some severe fines. Even a general violation can cost you as much as $7,000; a more serious violation carries a penalty of as much as $25,000. In the case of a repeat violation, that fine climbs to as much as $70,000. Last, failing to properly report the injury, illness, or death of an employee carries a minimum penalty of $5,000 – and this number climbs drastically based on the severity of the situation.
Doing your very best to prevent injury goes a long way toward boosting your company’s overall revenue, and there are several ways you can do it. Have weekly safety meetings with your team to discuss any concerns. Invest in ergonomic equipment specifically designed to reduce injury (In fact, here’s a link to our webinar, Promoting Safety and Reclaiming Employee Health). And make sure you are up-to-date with all of OSHA’s regulations, which are known to change regularly.
