Accident Cost Iceberg

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Accident Cost Iceberg Accidents are common at workplace, and thus the cost of accidents should be a major concern to the employers of any organization. In fact, many people do not always realize that the accidents are costly, both from the aspects of human tragedy as well as direct and indirect costs. The profits of an organization can actually be affected and reduced radically due to a series of costly accidents. This is because accidents have direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include workers compensation insurance premium for medical bills, liability insurance cost, and property related insurance costs; whereas indirect costs include various disruptions to normal work, transportation for first aid, wages paid to injured worker for time not worked, loss of crew efficiency, and OSHA and civil fines. By referring to the illustration of the iceberg, the part above the water surface represents direct costs which indicates the smaller, direct portion of the total accident costs whereas the part below the water surface represents indirect costs which indicates the greater, indirect portion of the total accident costs. As we can see, most of the iceberg lies below the water surface, and its total shape and size can be difficult to be determined. Likewise, the indirect costs which are 5-20 times greater lurk below, although the direct costs of accidents are more obvious. For instance, an accident happens that an employee is seriously injured as he receives an electric shock from faulty equipment. Other employees in the department do not return to work immediately after they have given first aid to the injured person and called for help, as they will remain helping out or merely to watch. In such situation, all idle work time is categorized as part of the total accident costs. Moreover, time spent on accident investigation,

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