Incident Calculator


Direct Costs

  1. Select an injury type from the drop-down menu OR enter the total workers’ compensation costs.
  2. Enter the profit margin (enter value or use default of 3%).
  3. Enter the number of injuries (leave blank to use default of one).
  4. Select “Add/Calculate” to compute the total direct and indirect costs.
  5. Repeat the step to add additional injuries to the list.

Injury Type

or

Workers’ Compensation Costs (annual sum of costs)

OR

Enter Profit Margin (%) (enter value or use default of 3%)

Enter Number of Injuries (leave blank to use default of one)


Estimated Total Cost

The extent to which the employer pays the direct costs depends on the nature of the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy. The employer always pays the indirect costs.

Injury Type Instances Direct Cost Indirect Cost Total Cost Additional Sale (Indirect) Additional Sale (Total)

Totals

Estimated Direct Costs:

Estimated Indirect Costs:

Combined Total (Direct and Indirect Costs):

Sales To Cover Indirect Costs:

Sales To Cover Total Costs:

Injury and Accident Cost Calculator – Calculating the Cost of Workplace Injuries

Keeping your team safe and ensuring you are up-to-date and compliant with all OSHA regulations is top priority, and for good reason. With the livelihood of your employees and your business on the line, there is little room for error on the jobsite.

What many companies don’t realize is that the true cost of accidents – both direct and indirect costs – quickly adds up and in ways you might not expect. Using our accident cost calculator can help you prepare a safety plan for your team that minimizes risk and prevents bottom line losses.

What Is the Total Cost of Workplace Injuries?

OSHA accident cost calculator

There is no doubt that the cost of work-related injuries will impact your profitability. What is uncertain is just how much. OSHA estimates that employers pay nearly $1 billion each week for direct costs alone. According to the National Safety Council, more than 100 million workdays were lost in 2017 due to workplace injuries.

Now think about your business. How would one day lost affect your bottom line? What about 20? Conducting an accident cost analysis can help your company realize the full cost of workplace injuries.

Direct Costs of Accidents at Work

Typically, direct costs are your day-to-day expenses. Normally, these might be expenses like equipment purchased and wages paid. When it comes to accidents at work, direct costs include worker’s compensation payments, legal payments and medical expenses. These expenses are payments incurred directly due to the workplace injury.

Indirect Costs of Accidents at Work

Indirect costs are those expenses that might not come immediately to mind, including OSHA fines, administrative time to address safety issues, time spent training a replacement employee, lost productivity from work stoppage, managing public perception and media attention, and boosting employee morale.

These costs – though seemingly small – add up quickly and easily take your profit loss from minor to major. Furthermore, indirect costs aren’t typically covered by insurance, which means that dollars spent will not be reimbursed.

How Does the OSHA Pays Safety Estimator Work?

The OSHA Safety Pays estimator uses your profit margin, the average cost of an injury, and an indirect cost multiplier to estimate the amount of sales your company would need to cover related direct and indirect costs. The multiplier is based on a sliding scale that calculates indirect costs of injuries.

For example, for an injury that costs up to $3,000 in direct costs, you would spend 4.5 times that amount in indirect costs. Meanwhile, an injury with direct costs up to $10,000 would incur only 1.2 times that amount in indirect costs. Simply put, the less serious the injury, the higher the ratio of indirect costs to direct costs.

Direct Costs Indirect Cost Ratio
$0 – $2,999 4.5
$3,000 – $4,999 1.6
$5,000 – $9,999 1.2
$10,000 or more 1.1

 

To use the Incident Calculator tool, you will need to enter:

  • Injury type
  • Workers’ compensation costs
  • Profit margin
  • Number of injuries.

Why Using the OSHA Injury Calculator Can Help Your Workplace

OSHA injury calculator for cost of workplace injuries

Creating and maintaining a safe work environment means knowing your risk and planning appropriately. Your team must be well trained, you must have clearly defined and written policies and procedures in place, and you must comply with all OSHA rules and regulations.

For many small businesses, weaving each of these components together can be a daunting task – and that’s before you account for the direct and indirect cost of accidents at work. The reality is, accidents do happen, but it is up to you to take every action to prevent them.

Utilizing simple and straightforward tools like our Incident Calculator can give you an idea of just how much an accident at work will cost your business. Implementing best-in-class safety solutions before an accident happens is the only way to keep your team safe and your business thriving.

To learn more about protecting your investment, contact Safety By Design today.