Off-the-job safety is the extension of an organization’s on-the-job safety culture. Off-the-job safety programs educate employees about being safe while not at work. A growing number of businesses now consider off-the-job safety critical to good management of health care costs, productivity and profits. More importantly, off-the-job safety programs help save the lives of employees and their families.
U.S. workers are actually safer on the job than in their homes or communities, according to the 2009 edition of the National Safety Council’s Injury Facts. Eleven times more workers die from unintentional injuries off-the-job than on-the-job and three times more workers suffer disabling injuries off-the-job than at work. For every two workplace injuries, seven off-the-job injuries occur.
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Unintentional off-the-job worker injuries and deaths cost the nation at least $246.8 billion in 2007, a staggering $1677 per U.S. worker. This figure includes lost wages, medical and hospital costs, and administrative expenses associated with insurance. |
Employers lost more than 225 million days of production time due to off-the-job incidents, compared with 75 million lost workdays resulting from workplace injuries. Future lost production time resulting from off-the-job injuries that occurred in 2007 will total an estimated 505 million days – more than eight times the 60 million days lost in future years resulting from workplace injuries that occurred in 2007. These costs are even higher when you add health care claims and other benefit costs associated with injuries and deaths to workers’ family members.
Safety doesn’t stop when you leave work. Passing that philosophy on to your employees and encouraging them to follow your example creates a sustainable culture of safety. This keeps overall injuries and healthcare costs down, keeps productivity up, and empowers your employees to apply best safety practices 24/7, wherever they are.
Partner with the National Safety Council to save 10,000 lives and prevent 1 million injuries by 2014. Explore free resources to start or enhance your off-the-job safety & health program.