One of the most common reasons for failing to fulfil the duties of health and safety law is that management does not have the time and resources. In manufacturing industries such as timber and furniture, it is often thought that ‘production is everything’ – anything else can wait.
Such a view is understandable as turnover is dependent upon the selling of product. A common assumption is that increased turnover is good – but, of course, it is generally the increase in profits which stakeholders are interested in. Unfortunately profits do not necessarily increase with turnover due to the multitude of costs that must be taken into account.
Most companies do not realise the extent of the cost of health and safety as the bulk of it is hidden. Companies often assume that if something goes wrong, insurance such as that for employee liability will cover the losses. In reality, the insurance covers only part of the cost – and this will be more than recouped by the insurance premiums in subsequent years.
The cumulative cost to British industry of such failings is estimated at up to a staggering £6.5bn per year. This is equivalent to the total turnover of the UK furniture manufacturing sector.
Website section
As a result, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has devoted a section of its website (www.hse.gov.uk/costs/index.asp) to the costs associated with health and safety management. This provides plenty of useful information as well as an interactive section which allows companies to work out the costs of their own accidents.
Insured costs includes employer’s liability, public liability, damage to buildings and vehicles. Many manufacturing companies have faced employer’s liability premiums which have doubled or trebled over the past year.
The reasons given for these rises have included the fact that some insurers have exited the markets, coupled with the rise in claims by employees. Many manufacturers are annoyed by the rises – especially because these insurers are often guilty of short term vision by paying spurious claims from employees to avoid the costs of fighting actions..
Uninsured costs
Uninsured costs are much more numerous. When an accident occurs, production time may be lost together with the labour of the injured person, anyone required to treat them and escort them to hospital, investigate the cause and tidy up the scene. When the injured person is away, replacement labour may be required – and this can also tie up the time of someone to train and supervise. If the accident was machinery related, repairs may have to be undertaken. There may also be costs related to morale and goodwill.
Bigger accidents which cause significant interruptions to production may lead to an idle period for other workers, followed by overtime working to make up the shortfall. Clerical time will be tied up reporting the accident to the HSE in accordance with the requirements of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995.
Finally, the company may face criminal prosecution by the HSE if it has been negligent and failed to address foreseeable risks. A civil action may then be undertaken by the injured person to win compensation for injuries and loss of earnings.
Naming and shaming
The HSE publishes details of all prosecutions and enforcement notices on its website. Since 1998, some 779 enforcement notices have been served against timber companies and 368 against the furniture industry.
Analysis of the timber related companies shows 275 successful prosecutions over three years with fines and costs which totalled £1.3m.
The HSE website provides a significant amount of detail on each notice and prosecution, including the name and address of the company involved, along with the details of the offence.
There is a sad degree of repetition in the offences, a large number of which involve untrained young people (under 21 years old) losing fingers on poorly guarded circular saws and spindle moulders when trying to clear blockages by hand. A number of deaths are also recorded due to vehicles, entanglement in machinery, boiler explosion and being overcome by fumes.
Sawmilling machinery
By way of example, 85% of prosecutions of sawmills involved machinery. Twenty per cent were related to entanglement in conveyors, 32% cross-cuts and 25% involved young people. Within the joinery sector, 40% of incidents involved circular saws or spindle moulders.
One of these incidents involved a 23-year-old male who lost his finger and thumb in the cutter block of a spindle moulder while trying to clear a blockage. The company was simultaneously prosecuted for allowing this machine to be used by a 15-year-old schoolboy on work experience. A fine of £20,000 resulted along with £2,396 costs.
The most varied offences occurred in the furniture industry. Sixty-nine per cent were machinery related. Interestingly, 12% of prosecutions involved the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999 .
Any companies that think ‘well, it’s never happened to us’ or ‘we haven’t had an HSE visit for years’ should read the details of the prosecutions within their own sector. The moral argument alone should be enough to get most companies to ask themselves whether they are doing all they can. Failing this, the costs associated with bad management should help to
justify the time and resources required to conduct risk assessments and implement corrective actions.
