OSH 220 Safety Management 2

Rishi Williams

REASONS FOR MANAGING HEALTH AND

SAFETY
MORAL, LEGAL AND FINANCIAL ARGUMENTS FOR HEALTH AND
SAFETY MANAGEMENT
The moral arguments are reflected by the occupational accident and disease rates.
ACCIDENT RATES
Accidents at work can lead to serious injury and even death. Trends are shown in Tables
1.11.4 below. A major accident is a serious accident typically involving a fracture of a limb
or a 24 hour stay in a hospital. An over three-day accidents an accident which leads to
more than 3 days off work. Statistics are collected on all people who are injured at places of
work not just employees. It is important to note that since 1995 suicides and trespassers
on the railways have been included in the HSE figures this has led to a significant increase
in the figures. Table 1.1 details accidents involving all people at a place of work over a four
year period. In 2005/06, there were 384 fatal injuries to members of the public and about
66% of these were due to acts of suicide or trespass on the railways. Table 1.2 shows, for
the year 2004/05, the breakdown in accidents between employees, self-employed and
members of the public. Table 1.3 shows the figures for employees only. It shows that whilst
there has been a decline in fatalities, major accidents have increased.
Table 1.4 gives an indication of accidents in different employment sectors. These figures
indicate that there is a need for health and safety awareness even in occupations which
many would consider very low hazard, such as schools, the health services and hotels. In
fact over 70% of all deaths occur in the service sector and manufacturing is considerably
safer than construction and agriculture. In 2005/06, slips and trips accounted for 38% of
major accidents whereas 41% of over three-day injuries were caused by handling, lifting
and carrying. Although there has been a decrease in fatalities over recent years, there is
still a very strong moral case for improvement in health and safety performance.

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DISEASE RATES
Work related ill-health and occupational disease can lead to absence from work and, in
some cases, to death. Such occurrences may also lead to costs to the state (the Industrial
Injuries Scheme) and to individual employers (sick pay and, possibly, compensation
payments).
In 2004/05 a major survey was undertaken into self reported work related illness. In that
year there were 2.0 m people in the UK suffered from work related illness of whom 600
000 were new cases in that year. This led to 28 m working days lost compared to 6 m due
to workplace injury. The top four illnesses were:

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musculoskeletal disorders 1010 k

stress related 509 k
lower respiratory disease 137 k
deafness, tinnitus and other ear problems 74 k
11.6 m working days were lost due to musculoskeletal disorders causing each sufferer to
have 21 days off work on average and 12.8 m working days were lost due to stress,
depression and anxiety causing each sufferer to have 31 days off work on average. Recent
research has shown that one in five people who are on sickness leave from work for six
weeks, will stay off work and leave paid employment.
III-health statistics are estimated either from self reported cases (Table 1.5) or from data
supplied by hospital specialists and occupational physicians (Table 1.6). The number of
self-reported cases will always be much higher than those seeking advice from hospital
based specialists.

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LEGAL ARGUMENTS
The legal arguments, concerning the employers duty of care in criminal and civil law, are
clear. Some statistics on legal enforcement indicate the legal consequences resulting from
breaches in health and safety law. There have been some very high compensation awards
for health and safety cases in the civil courts and fines in excess of 100,000 in the criminal
courts. Table1.7 shows the number of enforcement notices served over a three year period
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by the HSE. Most notices are served in the manufacturing sector followed by construction
and agriculture. Local Authorities serve 40% of all improvement notices and 20% of all
prohibition notices.
Table 1.8 shows the number of prosecutions by the HSE over the same three year period
and it can be seen that approximately 70% of those prosecuted are convicted. There was a
reduction in the number of prosecutions over the three year period but provisional figures
for 2006/07 show an increase of 20% in the number of prosecutions. HSE present 80% of
the prosecutions and the remainder are presented by Local Authority Environmental
Health Officers. Most of these prosecutions are for infringements of the Construction
Regulations and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations. There are some
clear legal reasons for sound health and safety management systems.

FINANCIAL ARGUMENTS
COST OF ACCIDENTS
Any accident or incidence of ill-health will cause both direct and indirect costs and incur and
insured and an uninsured cost. It is important that all of these costs are taken into account when
the full cost of an accident is calculated. In a study undertaken by the HSE, it was shown that
indirect costs or hidden costs could be 36 times greater than direct costs of an accident. In other
words, the direct costs of an accident or disease represent the tip of the iceberg when compared to
the overall costs (Figure 1.11).
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DIRECT COST
These are costs which are directly related to the accident and may be insured or uninsured.
Insured direct costs normally include:
claims on employers and public liability insurance
damage to buildings, equipment or vehicles
any attributable production and/or general business loss.
Uninsured direct costs include:
fitness resulting from prosecution by the enforcement authority
sick pay
some damage to product, equipment, vehicles or process not directly attributable to the accident
(e.g. caused by replacement staff)
increases in insurance premiums resulting from the accident
any compensation not covered by the insurance policy due to an excess agreed between the
employer and the insurance company
legal representation following any compensation claim.

INDIRECT COSTS
These are costs which may not be directly attributable to the accident but may result from a series
of accidents. Again these may be insured or uninsured.
Insured indirect costs can include:
a cumulative business loss
product or process liability claims
recruitment of certain replacement staff.
Uninsured indirect costs include:
loss of goodwill and a poor corporate image
accident investigation time and any subsequent remedial action required
production delays
extra overtime payments

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lost time for other employees, such as a First Aider, who attend to the needs of the injured
person
the recruitment and training of most replacement staff
additional administration time incurred
first aid provision and training
lower employee morale possibly leading to reduced productivity
Some of these items, such as business loss, may be uninsurable or too prohibitively expensive to
insure. Therefore, insurance policies can never cover all of the costs of an accident or disease either
because some items are not covered by the policy or the insurance excess is greater than the
particular item cost.

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