Page 10 - IGC BOOK

an injury can have profound long-term consequences on an individual’s personal and social life.
There may also be a significant impact on the injured person’s family, this is morally unaccepted.

Organisations usually take all possible ways to protect their workers from injury. They attempt
to ‘do the right things’ so that the workers return to home happily without any injury or ill-health.
Society expects that the employer to demonstrate correct attitude towards health and safety.

Employers have a moral duty to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of their employees.
They must also ensure the health, safety, and welfare of non-employees such as contractors and
visitors.

The Financial Reason for Managing Health and Safety

Accidents and ill-health involve costs, the indirect costs involved are often considerably more
expensive than direct costs. The direct and indirect costs associated with accidents can endanger
a company’s competitiveness. Financial losses due to lost production, damage to equipment and
plant, increased insurance premiums and the possibility of fines and adverse publicity are all
issues to consider.

While it is possible to insure against some of the expenses associated with injury, ill-health and
damage to property, the hidden uninsurable costs could well exceed the insurable costs.

• Those relating directly to the incident.
• Those relating indirectly to the incident.

Direct Costs
These are the measurable costs which are directly associated
with the accidents and involves payment of money.

For e.g.

• Compensation pay outs.
• Victim Sick pay.
• Fines from criminal court.
• Machinery repair costs Accident involves loss of money

Indirect Costs

These are the costs which are arise as a consequence of the event, indirect costs are often
difficult to quantify, they are more substantial than direct costs.

For e.g.

• Loss of worker morale (will have impact in productivity and culture.
• Supervisor time spent on investigation and preparing reports.
• Recruiting and training new employees.
• Loss of business reputation and goodwill.

ENSIGN| Unit IG1 – Element 1 – Why We Should Manage Workplace Health and 2
Safety