As a matter of responsible business, you do all you can to prevent workplace injuries. You also truly care about your workers and don’t want anyone to be injured on the job. However, even with a carefully executed safety plan and adequate OSHA compliant fall protection in place (including modular guardrails and industrial swing gates), slips, trips and falls can still happen. This type of incident can be extremely costly for your company, and it’s not just the workers’ compensation claim you need to worry about. When a workplace fall occurs, there are several financial losses that you can, and likely will, incur including legal and administrative fees, and possibly even OSHA fines and penalties.
Understanding Your OSHA Fall Protection Obligations
Every employer, regardless of industry, must provide a safe work environment for their employees under OSHA regulations. OSHA 1910.28 states that employers have a duty to provide fall protection and falling object protection. This includes taking action such as installing fall protection systems like a guardrail and adjustable safety gate to protect workers at heights of 4 feet or more above the ground or previous level.
OSHA compliant fall protection equipment must meet the criteria in OSHA 1910.29. These rules pertain to everything from industrial swing gates to safety railings and personal fall protection equipment. Failure to meet these guidelines can result in huge fines for non-compliance and even heftier penalties if someone gets hurt.
What is the Real Price of a Fall?
At first glance, you may think that the cost of a workplace fall isn’t really all that substantial, but you’d be wrong. According to the National Safety Council, slip and fall accidents cost employers an average of $47,681 in workers’ compensation claims. But this is just the beginning of the expenses that can quickly add up in case of a workplace fall. Other costs include:
Administrative Expenses
Whenever an employee is injured due to a slip and fall accident, it’s important that the incident is documented properly. The extra time and resources devoted to administrative duties associated with falls such as recording the incident, notifying the appropriate authorities, completing insurance claim paperwork, following up with safety experts to discover the cause of the fall, and filing appropriate forms with OSHA can add up and effect your bottom line.
Legal Costs
If the workers’ compensation claim is being disputed, or there are other legal issues at hand, you’ll need legal counsel. Contacting your corporate attorney immediately will help safeguard and insulate your company against legal action. Keep in mind that whenever attorneys get involved with a dispute regarding a workplace fall, that the costs are automatically higher for you.
Human Resources
Anytime someone falls and is injured in your workplace it’s a tragedy, but work must continue. Replacing an injured employee, even temporarily, can be expensive and time-consuming. You’ll have to actively seek out a replacement, sort through candidates, hire one, and onboard them in a timely manner to avoid too much interruption. If you don’t hire a replacement, your current workers will need to take on a heavier workload, which may mean overtime and other increased compensation costs.
OSHA Fines and Penalties
Workplace falls can result in huge fines from OSHA if it’s found that you aren’t compliant with the fall protection regulations. These penalties are intentionally harsh, and they are intended to incentivize employers to stay compliant before accidents happen. For the first violation of OSHA guidelines, you can face OSHA penalties of up to $14,502. Failure to abate the issue within a timely manner can net you additional fines of $14,502 per day beyond the abatement date. Willfully ignoring OSHA guidelines or repeating OSHA violations can result in fines of $145,027 per violation!
Additional Costs of Workplace Falls to Consider
All of the fees and costs associated with an injury due to a workplace fall mentioned above can wreak havoc on your organization’s budget, and they’re not even the full extent of potential problems. When a workplace slip-and-fall accident happens and an injury occurs there are some surprising hidden costs that you’ll have to pay including:
Decreased Productivity
A serious workplace injury can have a dramatic impact on the productivity of your entire facility. When you replace an employee with someone new, there’s a learning curve and productivity will naturally be lower in the beginning. If you choose to spread the work around, workers may struggle to maintain the pace along with their everyday duties.
Decreased Morale
Seeing or hearing about a co-worker who has been injured due to a fall is disheartening. Uninjured workers may worry about their own safety, or fear for the safety of others. When the mood is dark and somber in your facility, it has a direct impact on every aspect of your company from production to employee retention.
Diminished Public Perception
No matter how good your products or services are, a workplace fall can have a lasting impact on the public’s perception of your brand and your company. Injuries and being fined by OSHA for non-compliance can also affect your ability to attract new talent. This can dramatically affect your ability to compete and could ultimately endanger your company’s entire future.
Avoid Falls with OSHA Compliant Fall Protection
The best way to avoid a workplace fall is to eliminate fall hazards altogether. Unfortunately, that’s not always possible, so prevention is the next best thing. It is vital that your facility is equipped with adequate fall protection systems and devices like guardrails and an adjustable safety gate wherever needed to avoid the costs mentioned above, as well as the awful prospect of someone getting hurt. Enlist the assistance of a qualified safety expert to perform a thorough inspection of your facility to assess safety issues and concerns.
Fall Protection Systems You Can Count On
You are completely responsible for the safety and well-being of your employees while they’re at work. That means providing OSHA compliant fall protection such as modular guardrail systems, an adjustable safety gate, industrial swing gates, and personal fall protection when necessary. If you fail to meet your obligations and someone falls and is injured, you’re going to incur a host of costs, possibly even beyond those noted above. Contact Fabenco today to discover how you can avoid the high cost of workplace falls with OSHA compliant fall protection equipment.
