CHAPTER 2

Accidents at the workplace: injury, lost of life and property damage

Worker involved in the accident and the employer loss their
income/profit
Accident cost higher than expected (indirect cost)

 Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH)

Should be avoid by reducing accident rates to prevent
accidents at workplace
Through implementation of an effective safety and health
programme Other benefits:
Reduce absenteeism, lower turnover and higher productivity for
company
Motivate and increase their awareness to act; could be reduce
accident rates
DOSH developed a calculator to assist employers estimates
accident costs and increase awareness of total of cost

 Starts with presentation which show about direct costs

(Cdirect), indirect costs (Cindirect), payment (Cpayment) and
immeasureable (Cimmeasureable)
Total cost accident =
Cdirect+Cindirect+Cpayment+Commeasurable
Direct Cost = Cdamage + Cmedical + Cfine + Cinsurance

 Cdamage : product,raw materials, equipment,machinery and

cost of cleaning and returning the working area to a function
state
Cmedical : immediate medical treatment (transport, payment,
hospitalization and medical equipment)
Cfine : fines and claims may be imposed by authorities in the
event an accident as violations of safety procedures
Cinsurance : insurance premium paid by company ( leave of
absence, number of days of hospitalization, severity, law suits,
damage of equipment, commodities and facilities

 Human factor (most crucial)

Inadequate equipment and
procedure insufficiency

 The safety officer: responsible for monitoring safety generally

construction sites such as:
Repair any unsafe condition
Correct any unsafe practices
Ensure regulations and the laws are complied
Communicate directly with contractors safety supervisor
Employees need to be notified of any unwanted work
conditions
Distraction by others, inappropriate positions, lack of proper
training also as factor contributing of accidents

 Inadequate equipment
The management would take the blame if fails to provide
personal protection equipment. Example : install fire
extinguishers or fire alarm
Employees not exempted. Will be charged for removing safety
devices that lead to inadequacy of equipment (OSHA,1994)
Procedure insufficiency
Does not provide written work procedures for employees to
understand the operations of the company, may misjudge the
situation
Poor literacy skills among senior workers lead to failure to
understanding the manual on procedure by the company

 DOSHs Annual Report 2010 had outlined a Strategic Plan

2005-2010. Main objectives of this plans:
Reduce the rate of fatal accidents (20%)
Reduce the rate of accidents ( death, non-paralytics disabilities
and paralytic disabilities
Increase the enforcement activities by 100%
Increase the number of workplaces employing Safety and
Health Officers by 20 %

4 key strategies to achieve OSH-MP15:

Fostering and enhancing government leadership and practices
Inculcating preventive workplace culture
Industry leadership and business and community engagement
Strong partnership locally and internationally

 Developed by Professor Rollin H. Simonds of Michigan State

College
Divided into : insured and uninsured costs
Class 1 accident: lost workday. Permanent partial disabilities
and temporary total disabilities
Class 2 accident: treatment by a physician outside the
companys facility
Class 3 accident: locally provided first aid, property damage of
less $100 or the loss of less than 8 hour of work time
Class 4 accident: injuries that are so minor that they do not
required the attention of physician, result in property damage of

Lost work hours

Medical cost
Insurance premium and administration
Property damage
Fire losses
Indirect cost