According to the U.S. Department of Labor, or DOL, statistics, an effective and comprehensive safety program can make a tremendous difference for businesses. Investments in these efforts are not just the right thing to do but also capable of returning their investment many times over.
Consider some U.S. DOL statistics:
- In the United States, 24,000 workers suffer from work-related injuries or illnesses every work day.
- Out of this population of ill or injured workers, 17 pass away every day.
- These accidents cost businesses and society hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
How Much Can Companies Save With Integrated Safety Programs?
OSHA, part of the DOL, runs a program called the Voluntary Protection Program. About 500 companies in hundreds of different industries participate in this program. These companies have saved a cumulative total of over $100 million each and every year. The main reason that these companies save money is because their average injury rates fall below about half of the average for each of their respective industries. Not only are these good safety records bound to save these companies money on all sorts of insurance premiums, they also help reduce turnover, improve morale, and even increase productivity. Apparently, safe workers can also work harder.
How to Integrate Safety into Your Corporate Culture
OSHA has more good news to report. Since the implementation of this administration about 3 decades ago, workplace facilities have been reduced by half. However, OSHA admits that they only employ tens of thousands of inspectors to cover millions of workplaces and hundreds of millions of workers. It would take their inspectors six decades to inspect every work site in the United States. That means that the burden of improving safety programs falls on companies and not the government.
These are some proactive steps to provide an integrated safety culture in your business:
- Safety programs: Consider voluntary safety and training programs to motivate and educate the entire workforce about ways to stay safe and the importance of taking these measures.
- Safety management: Implement a company-wide safety management program, possibly with safety management software that can assist with everything from delivering and tracking training courses to anticipating future hazards.
- Safety integration: As the DOL suggests, don't consider safety separate from every other part of your business but part of everything from purchasing to manufacturing to sales to the places your employees park their cars.
We Help Companies Improve Safety and Save Money
At Ventiv Technology, we help hundreds of companies manage safety programs that protect hundreds of thousands of workers in the United States and all over the world. Our technology solutions can help you improve and quantify your company's integrated safety culture. The whole purpose of this is to integrate safety into all aspects of your business. In turn, your company can improve your safety record and reap all of the benefits that the safest companies enjoy. Learn more about our safety management software and enterprise risk management solutions today.
