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December 2005 — Vol. 83, No. 10

SMALL BUSINESS

Help employees be safe at home

Home accidents cost workplace dollars

By Chris Amorosino

Freelance writer in Unionville

Every year, businesses lose money due to preventable accidents that happen to their employees at home or in their cars. The losses can be significant.

Take, for example, a small business with six employees. One worker falls at home and misses weeks of work. That has a huge financial impact on the small business, according to Milton Jacobs, president of Safety Solution Consultants in East Granby.

Jacobs says home accidents cost employers an average of $717 per year per employee. Other numbers from the National Safety Council are more startling. In 2003, the average economic cost per death by motor vehicle accident was $1,120,000. The council pegs the average economic cost of a disabling injury that occurs at home at $11,500.

“Three years ago (2002), 23,000 people died from home accidents,” Jacobs says. “Now that figure has gone up to 28,800 people. When you compare that figure with the number of people who die at the workplace (about 4,900), it shows you the importance of home safety. Home accidents cost employers in many ways, including higher insurance rates and lost time on the job.”

When employers stress safety at home, they’re more likely to receive employees’ full attention than when they focus only on workplace safety, according to Jacobs. People are more likely to listen and respond to a safety message that will help them protect their family and home.

“Talk about OSHA’s lockout/tagout provisions, and employees fall asleep,” says Jacobs. “But if you talk about turning off the light switch before you change the bulb and then relate that to similar workplace situations, people understand and relate better to the message.”

Employers don’t need to devote a large budget to home safety. Simple, no-cost or inexpensive actions such as a frequent one-page safety bulletin or a paycheck envelope stuffer six times a year can make a big difference.

Safety messages should tell employees more than simply what to do. Jacobs believes messages should also explain why the recommended action is important. Giving employees the “why” makes it more likely they will put the information into practice. In his own business, Jacobs sends a safety bulletin home to all employees six times a year. One recent issue identified low back pain as the leading cause of disability in the United States before providing safe lifting tips.

Mind-set is a key element in preventing injuries and accidents at work or at home. One aspect of having a safety mind-set is “staying in the now.” Jacobs says accidents often occur when employees are thinking about something that just happened or are preparing for something in the future that might happen. They lose focus on what’s right in front of them, and an accident occurs.

“But accidents don’t just happen — accidents happen to be preventable,” he says. The most frequent category of home accidents, falls, can be prevented or reduced by a few simple changes such as using night-lights, putting a nonslip mat in the shower and keeping clutter off stairs. Another frequent home accident, poisoning, can be reduced by always reading the instructions for any prescription drug and never taking drugs prescribed for someone else.

Beyond the financial sense it makes to educate employees about home accidents lies a more important reason to emphasize home safety. Jacobs says, “First of all, promoting safety at home is the right thing to do.”

Note: Find fact sheets about home safety on the National Safety Council’s Web site at www.nsc.org/library/facts.htm.

 

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