Workplace injuries can often happen in a split second yet leave long term consequences in their wake. The true cost of workplace injuries can be devastating, and complex.
In terms of financial cost, according to research released by Safe Work Australia, if the injuries and illnesses between 2008 to 2018 could have been avoided so could have employer overheads of $49.5 billion.
But there will be more than just financial implications. In fact, there will be direct and indirect costs of accidents and injuries to companies such as loss of productivity, damage to your reputation, and personal injury, on top of any financial losses.
Thankfully, there is something you can do to make sure your business is reducing the risk of workplace accidents and all the devastation that can come with these incidents.
And it all comes down to correct workplace safety and risk management.
The role of safety training within workplaces
Organisations that implement safety training into their onboarding and inductions can reduce the risk of workplace accidents. Ongoing training programs can vastly improve workplace safety and reduce the cost of workplace injuries.
While safety training compliance will differ from industry to industry, one thing remains the same – safety training can help you to:
- comply with regulatory demands
- minimise incidents
- maximise awareness
- keep your employees healthy, happy, and productive
Safety training should apply to all roles; however individual training modules might be different depending on the specific role of the person. One business that found training times and costs challenging due to their many different employment types and locations was Transdev Queensland.
They implemented Rapid’s online induction software to help simplify their compliance process, and this was the result: “Our yearly outlay costs for managing contractors and contractor inductions have reduced by 72%. These costs are made up of system management costs and man hours costs and include contractor back billing for time spent on site doing inductions.”
Certainly, the right tools can make realising the benefits of safety training much easier and cost effective.
So, if you don’t already have safety training set up for all new starters – and as part of ongoing training and development – you might need to check if you are meeting your compliance requirements for your business type.
Report any incident, anytime
As well as ongoing safety training, it’s also important that organisations encourage incident reporting and promote a culture of feeling comfortable to report incidents.
To meet compliance requirements, you can use a real-time incident reporting system such as Rapid Incident Reporting which manages incident reports in one simple, centralised place.
Being able to report incidents easily and quickly – no matter how small or insignificant they may seem at the time – is a crucial element in risk management and in reducing accidents in the workplace that can add up to a larger problem.
The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is one business that needed a centralised reporting option. Managing over 14 sporting clubs, and over 100,000 patrons on event days, they needed a robust platform that could manage all incident types and prevent incidents falling through the cracks.
Since implementing our incident management solution, the MCC has recorded 2,324 reports encompassing safety notifications, hazards, and resilience-related issues. Reporting and documenting each incident has strengthened the response and follow-up actions.
Through reporting, you’ll be able to monitor trends and view long term incidents and frequency rates. Like the MCC, this will enable your organisation to get ahead of most risk types and assess risks in real-time.
Recommended reading: How to motivate your team to identify and report incidents
Assess and improve each and every risk
Risk assessments proactively help avoid the cost of injuries by reducing exposure to potentially dangerous situations. Online risk management software like Rapid Risk allows you to quickly identify every area of your company that risks have the potential to affect. This system also classifies risks into three broad categories: ‘Strategic’, ‘Project’ and ‘Operational’.
Computer vision is another tool that can prevent unsafe acts and conditions from remaining unnoticed. AI-powered camera software like Rapid Monitor connects with existing cameras to detect hazards like dangerous interactions with forklifts which can be of particular concern. For example, an Australian construction company recently faced a $1 million enforced safety spend after forklift traffic failure left a young man with life-threatening injuries.
With better awareness, you can take proactive action to prevent major incidents.
Combining workplace incident reporting with detailed risk assessments will ensure your organisation is best placed to not only meet compliance requirements and keep staff safe but is also a place where clients or customers feel safe and happy to come to.
Reduce the cost of workplace injuries in just a few minutes
At Rapid, we provide safety management software to many of the world’s most respected organisations, and we are ready to help you reduce the cost of workplace injuries through smart safety training. Talk to our Sales team today to ensure your business is meeting all necessary safety requirements.
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