(SAF) Safety Standards Lesson
Safety Standards Lesson
Introduction
Why Safety?
As responsible people we not only have to make sure that we maintain our own safety but we also have to maintain the safety of those around us in order to keep everyone alive and well. The rules not only apply within the classroom or home, but in the work force. For example, in the engineering lab we have to follow certain rules that pertain to the area of cleanliness, tool use and standard operating procedures.
The rules become established through learnings over time that are shared. Some rules are so important to a societies’ well-being that safety standards are developed and administered through industrial and governmental led organizations both domestically and internationally. Industries and responsible individuals adhere to and embrace safety regulations and common sense practices to minimize risk of harm to people or the environment. Not doing so endangers the wellbeing of people, but also significantly increases the cost of business operations and may invite legal recourse by those injured.
Explore
Adherence to safe and careful practices in the work environment and in our industrial society involve thoughtful effort and recognition of the potential harmful side effects to humans, the community, and the environment. Success requires considerable knowledge of harmful byproducts from production, education of best safe practices, planning for prevention of accidents, and ongoing learning and consideration for safe operation.
The safety topic is important. Obviously the impact of unfortunate accidents to life and the environment is an ongoing consideration, but so is the massive cost to industry (and possibly the entire community) when an accident should occur. Accidents are very costly to industry when one considers not only the expense for correcting the situation, but also loss of income and the potential liability.
It is for these reasons organizations have been established to develop and oversee safety standards, processes, and regulations for industry. Likewise, there are safety standards organizations for products. These other organizations evaluate the product to test for harmful impacts from poor design, or hazard to the user or the environment.
Cost of Lack of Safety Practices and the Resultant Impact to the Economy
Regardless of the attempts to reduce workplace accidents, some will still occur. Refer to the following chart from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 2016 for workplace accidents for certain professions. Individuals in the occupations listed certainly had safety training and standards for safety, however injuries still occurred.
Workplace accidents are expensive. It can be hard to exactly determine because the cost of workplace accidents includes both direct costs and indirect costs. Direct costs are directly measurable: workers’ compensations payments, medical expenses, and legal services. OSHA estimates employers pay almost $1 billion per week just for direct costs.
The indirect costs are more widespread and harder to measure. Indirect costs are borne by the employer through additional reserves to pay for training, replacement help, investment to correct whatever caused the accident, potentially lost revenue, and perhaps lost customers. The employee or family of employee must cover all expenses due to the injury or death and incur lost wages and fringe benefits. Workmen’s Compensation Insurance only covers a portion of the bill for the injured employee or family. The consumer will most likely pay more due to the increase cost of the employer. Overall, these indirect costs for workplace accidents are estimated to be more than double the direct costs.
Challenge
Take Away
This lesson has shown the significant cost of work related accidents to individuals, businesses and the US economy. Can communities and the surrounding environment be affected by a workplace accident?
Yes, communities and the environment are vulnerable to significant harm through industrial related workplace accidents. For example, the April 2010 explosion at the BP Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers, injured 17 others, and caused significant environment harm to the area of the Gulf. This incident was caused by safety violations. The oil leak spanned about 3 months and dumped more than 3 million barrels of crude on beaches from Texas to Florida killing an unknown number of sea animals, other wildlife, and long term damage to those ecosystems. More than 7 years after the accident, BP stated a direct cost of nearly $62 billion dollars due to this accident.
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