The financial impact of poor health and safety practices and processes are felt both in the company accounts and business efficiencies.
HSE statistics reveal the human and financial cost of failing to address health and safety. Each year:
Millions of working days are lost due to work-related illness and injury.
Around a million workers self-report suffering from a work-related illness.
Several hundred thousand workers are injured at work.
A worker is fatally injured almost every working day.
Since 2020, the HSE has a 95% successful prosecution rate, practically guaranteeing that your business will receive a fine if it is investigated for any health and safety breach.
Depending on the turnover of the company, fines can reach as high as £10 million. In 2021, there was a 30% increase in the 'average' health and safety related fine compared to the previous year.
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South West Water were fined £1.8 million after a lone worker drowned when he fell in to a filtration tank.
The man was working alone when he attempted to fix a fault with the tank. He removed a grill on the tank, and had to lean inside to unblock a filter. He fell through the hole, and was found face down in 6.5ft (2m) of water.
Upon sentencing, the judge said: "The dangers of falling into tanks was pointed out to South West Water on a number of occasions, and the fact that something needed to be done. No correct risk assessment for the procedure had been done. This was an accident waiting to happen."
If an employee’s personal safety is compromised and the employer has not provided ‘reasonably practicable’ protection, it can result in a large fine and can impact the company's ability to recruit and retain staff.
In 2020/21, £26.9 million in fines were issued to those found guilty of health and safety offences. Additionally, the HSE estimate that managing a serious incident can cost between £17,000 and £19,000.
Negative PR as a result of a health and safety incident can be extremely damaging for the company's reputation to customers, prospective employees and investors.
After an incident where a Domino's delivery driver was stabbed to death, the company's share price dropped considerably.
Staff who suffer negative events at work are more likely to leave. According to research by Oxford Economics and Unum, the average cost of turnover per employee (earning £25,000 a year or more) is £30,614.
Employee absence has huge financial implications. Over 11 million work days a year are lost due to employee stress, for which safety is a key contributor.
