1 CH 3 : The True Costs of Construction Worker Injuries Faculty of Applied Engineering and Urban Planning Civil Engineering Department Lecture 5 - Week 4 2 nd Semester 2008/2009 UP Copyrights 2009 Construction Safety Management Eng: Eyad Haddad

2 The True Costs of Construction Worker Injuries True accident costs are difficult to ascertain. Accident prevention is accepted as the responsibility of management. Accidents are very costly and reduce profits.

3 Direct Costs of Injuries  Those costs associated with the treatment of the injury and any unique compensation offered to workers as a consequence of being injured.  This type of cost can be directly counted. مثل (علاج - مستشفى – سيارة إسعاف – أيام التعطيل عن العمل إلخ) ويتم دفعها لمرة واحدة وهي المصاريف التي يغطيها التأمين Insurance.

4 Indirect cost of injuries Indirect cost are those for which there is no retrieval mechanism to accurately associate them with injuries. تكاليف يصعب حسابها بشكل دقيق ومن الصعب ربطها بالحادث ضمن الية واضحة 1. Cost of lost time of injured worker. موظف نقل مصاب بسيارته الخاصة 2. Cost of lost time of other workers who stop work. 3. Cost of time lost by foreman, supervisor, or other executives. 4. Cost due to damage to equipment, tools, property and materials. 5. Etc….. page سمعة الشركة

5 Workers compensation Employers regard workers compensation as an insurance policy for their employee when they are on the clock. The premiums paid by the employer based on: قسط التأمين يعتمد علي 1- The manual rate for a particular craft. يتم خصم نسبة ثابتة من الراتب لأصحاب الحرفة الواحدة فمثلا النجار 18 دولار من كل 100 دولار يتقاضاها. 2- The experience modification rate (EMR) which reflects the past accident experience of that particular employer. تعتمد على قياس الحادث بحوادث حدثت في الماضي والمقارنة بينهم (توجد مكاتب خاصة تقوم بمثل هذا العمل)

6 The manual rate Reflects the claims history of a particular craft The manual rate is stated as the cost of insurance per 100$ of payroll. The computation of the manual rate for certain craft is based on the past experience of claims for that particular craft. حيث يتم البحث في كافة الحوادث سوءا كانت صغيرة أم كبيرة ولمدة ثلاث سنوات سابقة ومن عيوب هذه الطريقة أنة يتعامل مع الحوادث الصغيرة والكبيرة بنفس المعايير.

7 Experience Modification Rate (EMR)  Reflects the claim history of a particular employer for a three-year period that does not include the immediately preceding year. تعتمد على قياس كلفة التأمين بناءا على أعلى المطالبات التي حدثت في السنوات الثلاثة الماضية ولكن لا تشمل السنة نفسها.  EMR gives indicators about the safety performance  Evaluates the frequency and the severity of injuries.  Injury claims are defined as a loss ratio.

8 Indirect cost of injuries Indirect cost are those for which there is no retrieval mechanism to accurately associate them with injuries. Example of Indirect cost of injuries: Any worker transport the injuries` worker to the hospital by his own car. Reduce productivity of an injuries worker. Lower productivity of any replacement worker. Pain and suffering of the injuries worker. The financial and emotional hardship that the injury imposes. The initial damage is to the general reputation of the firm.

9 Previous studies of the true costs of injuries H.W Heinrich (1941) Sheriff (1980) Bird and Loftus (1976) Leopold and Leonard (1987) Robinson (1979)

10 Recent Research on the cost of injuries Construction Industry Institute CII in conjunction with Washington university (Hinze and Appelgate 1991) Conducted a research in order to quantify the true costs of construction workers injuries. (185 Questioner, studding 834 injuries, 34 ) In the data analyses two concepts were used indicated as: -

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12 1) Medical case injuries (those requiring only a doctors attention before the injured worker returns to work) 2) Lost work day cases (those in which the injured worker could not return to work the following workday or where the worker had to be reassigned to a different type of work because of the injury) In the data analyses two concepts were used indicated as:

13 Cost of injury according to CII Source of injuryMedical caseLost workday Injured worker Workers crow Crew in vicinity Replce. Worker Admin. Staff Damage prop Others & Claims ,610 Indirect cost , Direct cost ,910

14 Example - 34 medical case injuries, 8 lost work-day cases, calculate the total cost of project injuries Medical case injury cost = 34( )= 38,522 $ Lost-workday injury cost = 8( )= 169,064$ Total cost of project injuries = 207,586 $

15 Additional analysis No significant differences between the indirect to direct cost ratios of different crafts. Cost ratio increase on cost-reimbursable contracts and on larger projects.

16 Models for estimating the field indirect cost of injuries 1- For medical-case injuries Field indirect cost = $150+15F+30H+100A 2- For lost-workday injuries Field indirect cost = $625+20F+20H+50V Where: - F = number of hours lost to receive care H = number of hours lost on the day of injury A = number of hours spent by admin. to assist V = number of hours spent by admin. to investigate

17 Continue Medical case injuries Field indirect cost = H+80A Lost-work day injury Filed indirect cost = H+100V

18 Example Field indirect cost = (F+H)+50V = (30+6)+50(2) = 1,445 $ Total indirect cost = 1,445 x 9 = 13,005 $ Total direct cost = 13,005\ = 6,319$ Total cost = 19,324 $

19 Comments Indirect costs of injury are significant. Sensitizing supervisory personnel to the true cost of injury will improve safety. Some costs are not known loss of pay for injure worker; Pain and suffering; Adverse effects of the injury on the other family members; Personal negligence suits; Damage to company image; Reduce profit margins to the firm; Removal of the firm from biding shortlists; Reduce moral of company employees and Possible criminal charges. A large number of fraudulent workers compensation claims are filed each year.