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16.9: Why It Matters- Safety, Health, and Risk Management

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    Why learn about safety, health and risk management?

    Although serious and often fatal injuries were common in the early industrial age, many of us assume that the modern workplace is a kinder—or at least safer—place. We assume that the laws passed in response to atrocities such as the Triangle Shirtwaist fire (discussed in Module 13: Union–Management Relations) and horrific workplace conditions in the meatpacking and other industries have addressed these risks and created an environment free of—at the very least, preventable—work-related injuries. As Figure 1 illustrates, that assumption would be wrong. In 2017, over 5,000 people died due to work-related-injuries in the United States. What is particularly shocking is that 86% of those fatalities were preventable. That is, 4,414 of the 5,147 deaths could have been avoided. At a global level, the International Labor Organization estimates the number of deaths due to occupational injuries and illnesses is 2,780,000 annually.[1]

    Chart of Work-related-injury deaths. The table below contains the same information depicted in this chart.

    Work-related-injury deaths, United States, 1992–2017[2]
    Year Total deaths Preventable Deaths
    1992 6,217 4,965
    1993 6,331 5,034
    1994 6,632 5,338
    1995 6,275 5,015
    1996 6,202 5,069
    1997 6,238 5,160
    1998 6,055 5,117
    1999 6,054 5,184
    2000 5,920 5,022
    2001 5,915 5,042
    2002 5,534 4,726
    2003 5,575 4,725
    2004 5,764 4,995
    2005 5,734 4,984
    2006 5,840 5,088
    2007 5,657 4,829
    2008 5,214 4,423
    2009 4,551 3,744
    2010 4,690 3,896
    2011 4,692 3,901
    2012 4,628 3,903
    2013 4,585 3,899
    2014 4,821 4,132
    2015 4,836 4,190
    2016 5,190 4,398
    2017 5,147 4,414

    The total cost of work injuries in the United States was $161.5 billion in 2017 (see Figure 2 for the breakdown).[3] According to Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index, U.S. employers spent $58.5 billion—over $1 billion per week—on the most disabling nonfatal injuries and illnesses in 2018.[4]

    Work Injury Costs[5]
    Total Cost in 2017 $161.5 billion
    Cost per worker $1,100
    Cost per death $1,150,000
    Cost per medically consulted injury $39,000

    Although significant, these costs are a fraction of the total cost of ineffective safety and health management. As occupational health and safety experts David Michaels and John Henshaw note in a GreenBiz article, “a strong commitment to safety and health can . . . decrease training and recruitment costs, increase worker engagement and satisfaction, increase productivity and quality and improve reputational and financial performance.”[6]

    In this module, we’ll discuss a business’s legal obligations for workplace safety and health, the enforcement process, how to improve workplace safety and risk management.

    1. "ILO: Global Cost of Work-related Injuries and Deaths Totals Almost $3 Trillion." Safety + Health Magazine. September 6, 2017. Accessed August 20, 2019. ↵
    2. National Safety Council. “Work-Related Fatality Trends.” Injury Facts. Accessed November 18, 2019. ↵
    3. "ILO: Global Cost of Work-related Injuries and Deaths Totals Almost $3 Trillion." ↵
    4. "Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index." Liberty Mutual Insurance. February 2018. Accessed August 20, 2019. ↵
    5. “Workplace Safety Index.” Liberty Mutual Group. Accessed November 18, 2019. ↵
    6. Michaels, David and John Henshaw. "Here's Why Worker Safety is a Sustainability Essential." Accessed August 20, 2019. ↵

    Contributors and Attributions

    This page titled 16.9: Why It Matters- Safety, Health, and Risk Management is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Nina Burokas via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.