The cost of an accident

Each accident costs the employer an average of between 10,000 EUR and 20,000 EUR !

Each year, 350,000 employees in the world die of a work-related accident. The first cost of any accident is a human cost, and that simply can´t be reduced to figures.

But if one has to put an economic price on these 350,000 accidents, the cost of this “slaughter” is twenty times higher than public development aid world-wide !

Some people think that all of the costs of an accident are covered by the insurance company, but that´s not true ! This amount of 10,000 to 20,000 EUR is the amount really borne by the company, deducting the intervention made by the insurers.

 It is an average cost, which means that certain accidents will be ten times less expensive and others ten times more expensive. This average is commonly accepted by all companies that have done comprehensive and detailed studies in order to determine all of the direct and indirect costs of an accident.

The direct costs

• Caring for the accident victim, first aid, managing the accident
• The employer´s share in the medical expenses
• The employer´s share in the indemnities to be paid during the absence
• Possible breakage of equipment or interruption of production during the accident and damage caused on the site (If a pallet fell to the ground during the accident and an airplane part was on this pallet, an expensive chemical product or fragile electronic components…)

The indirect costs

• Consequences of the panic that breaks out when the accident occurs
• Interruption of the work of colleagues
• Production delays
• Hiring of an interim to replace the accident victim
• Training of the replacement, lower productivity
• Administrative costs for the line management : performing an in-depth study of the accident, drafting a report, presenting the report, …
• If there was material damage, one has to clean, repair, reorganise, redevelop, …
• Premiums paid to the health insurance funds (the Cram in France). Naturally, these contributions vary depending on the size of a company and the risks present. The more accidents a company has, the higher the premiums it will pay.

And we´re not even talking here of the enormous cost related to possible lawsuits if the accident should result from a breach on the part of the Management…