The true cost of poor health and safety

When you put health and safety policies and processes in place, your main priority is to keep your workers safe, and rightly so. But a robust health and safety policy isn’t only useful for protecting your employees – it can also protect your organisation from the significant costs that can be incurred by poor health and safety.

Every year, over a million workers are injured or made ill by their work in Great Britain. The Health and Safety Executive’s latest data showed between 2015/16 and 2017/18, an average 595,000 workers were injured at work, while a further 529,000 workers suffered a new case of work-related illnesses. Unfortunately, 144 people died at work during this time period.

How much does poor health and safety cost us?

These accidents and illnesses come at a cost – to the individual that’s affected, to their organisation and to society as a whole. Many of us are aware of the human costs of poor health and safety, as if an injury or illness prevents a person from working then they’re likely to suffer from a loss of income.

However, the financial impacts health and safety incidents can have on an organisation may not be as obvious. Businesses are also likely to incur substantial costs– in fact, it’s estimated that workplace injuries and work-related illnesses cost British businesses around £3bn in 2016/17.