The True Cost of "Work Related Injuries"

There are companies that feel that the cost of purchasing and installing the proper safety devices on all of their manufacturing machinery is too costly and may slow down production. These companies should take the time to analyze the true cost of just one work related injury and compare that cost to the purchase and installation of the approved safety devices that could prevent that injury.

OSHA $100,000 Club of Safety Citations

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed penalties of $100,000 or more for many recent alleged failures to protect workers from potential hazards, including many that could have been avoided or mitigated by safety equipment. A Pipe Manufacturer in Oregon was fined $197,500 for exposing employees to safety hazards, including inadequate machine guarding and failure to train employees in lockout/tagout procedures.

The costs of a work related injury go far beyond hospital stays and medical bills incurred to treat the injury. There are many other variable costs to be considered as shown in the following list:

• Production Downtime
• Workers Compensation Benefits
• Loss of Experienced Operator
• Placement & Training of New Operator
• Major Fines From Regulatory Agencies
• Possible Damage to Equipment or Tooling
• Internal and External Investigation (Regulatory Agency)
• Expenditures to Bring Machinery Into Safety Compliance
• Management Time to Review, Resolve Problems and Implement Changes
• Emotional impact / Drop in Co-workers Morale
• Probability of Major Lawsuit
• Tarnished Business & Public Image
• Long-term Physical and Emotional impact on Injured Employee
• Increased Insurance Rates

After calculating the true costs of a work related injury, those companies who feel that the cost of meeting their safety obligations is too high, often realize that machine safety doesn’t really cost... it pays!

Machine Safeguarding . . . a Commitment Your Company Should Make!

What is the motivation for making a commitment to safeguard the machines that are used for the production of the parts and components that your company manufactures? JOKAB SAFETY believes that the primary and most important motivation for safeguarding is to protect the sanctity of human life and limb. Every company should realize that their human resources are their most important asset.

• The protection of your employees is not based on the fact that there are regulatory standards that must be met, but rather the higher standard of the ethical obligation to insure that all of your staff leaves work in the same physical condition as when they arrived.
• The value of seeing that every employee has the opportunity to work in a safe environment far exceeds the economic consequences that are associated with work related injuries.
• The same safety devices and systems that can reduce the severity or eliminate injuries to employees that operate, program, test or perform service maintenance to machines provide a line of defense against the financial expenses associated with each injury.
• In pure economic terms, there are obvious advantages to properly safeguarding your manufacturing machinery.

No company wants any of their valued staff to suffer an injury, and employers do not want to deal with the financial “after effects” associated with a work related injury. The reason for using machine safety devices is clear, because wherever a worker has access to a hazardous area during a machine cycle, it’s not if an injury will take place, but rather when the injury will take place.

JOKAB SAFETY is Committed to Safeguarding Man and Machine

JOKAB SAFETY is committed to the design, engineering and manufacturing of the electronic safety devices and systems that will meet or exceed all necessary safety standards or regulations and provide the highest level of machine safety possible.

With over two decades of manufacturing experience, JOKAB SAFETY is recognized throughout the world for innovation and quality. The goal of JSNA is to make it possible for manufacturing companies across North America to have the opportunity to protect their employees with the most reliable electronic machine safety solutions and safety fencing systems available in the industry.