The social costs of accidents at work should be understood as the total costs of accidents borne by companies, victims and their families, and the costs borne by society as a whole. Injuries caused by accidents always increase the demand for various public sector services, such as health services, the costs of which, in the course of the evolution of social systems of different countries, have been passed on from victims and employers to the rest of society. These are therefore to a large extent hidden costs and therefore the least realized by society.

The social cost of accidents results in significant economic losses which, according to recent estimates by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), amount to around 4% of GDP in industrialised countries. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work estimated the costs of accidents at work and occupational diseases for businesses, victims and their families and society as a whole in the EU-15 countries between 2.6% and 5.9% of GDP.

A very large variation in the average cost of an accident at work was observed between individual enterprises: the lowest was in construction companies and the highest in coal mining companies.

The analysis of the costs of accidents at work showed a characteristic phenomenon consisting in a higher share of opportunity costs in the total costs of accidents at work burdening enterprises. The opportunity cost or the so-called cost of lost opportunities in relation to the costs of accidents at work concerns, m.in. the costs of lost time of the injured person and other persons on the day of the accident, the costs of lost time for post-accident investigation and planning preventive activities, the time of a doctor and nurse in the outpatient clinic devoted to providing medical assistance to the injured person and substitutions and overtime work, as well as repairs of damaged assets performed by  employees of the enterprise as part of remuneration. Opportunity costs accounted for 52% of the overall accident costs and accounting costs for 48%.

A study of the costs of accidents at work charged to victims and their families showed a very strong variation in the costs of accidents borne by victims and their families depending on the severity of accidents.

Studies have shown that there were on average 3.3 outpatient visits per 1 accident, including 5.6 visits for 1 accident causing absenteeism of at least 6 months. Almost 40% of accident victims used inpatient treatment. Among the injured unable to work from 1 month to 3 months, over 46% used hospital treatment, while among the injured unable to work for at least 6 months, over 85% of the injured went to the hospital. For accidents causing absenteeism from 3 to 6 months, the average length of hospital treatment was 6.6 days, for accidents with absence over 6 months – almost 11 days, and for disability accidents – 93 days. Studies have shown that there were on average 0.35 surgeries per 1 accident, and their frequency increased with the increase in the severity of accidents at work.

Source: CIOP and PIB materials

Source: https://www.seka.pl/spoleczne-koszty-wypadkow-przy-pracy/

Supported by Norway through Norway Grants 2014-2021, in the frame of the Programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work”.