Recent studies suggest that the current picture on American worker safety is anything but rosy. A release from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA presents an almost Dickensian picture of how employers and other parties fail to control industrial injuries. Titled “Adding Inequality to Injury,” this research paper talks frankly about how reckless or hazardous policies create an unfair playing field and an improper work environment for millions of Americans.

The Cost

Part of what this study does is considering the cost of working juries — not only how families become financially strapped and unable to sustain themselves, but how work injuries create a drag on the economy in general. There’s also the concern that taxpayers end up funding some programs that may not be efficiently dealing with these types of accidents and injuries.

For example, a statistic shows that workers tend to earn 15% less compensation for 10 years following an injury. But the study doesn’t just bring a statistical approach to the issue — in a sidebar titled “Statistics are people with the tears washed off,” OSHA talks about how numbers tend to mask the real picture of individual lives compromised by work injury, and provides compelling stories of individual workers coping with the aftermath of a work accident. The study also talks about how many workplace injuries impact low-wage workers the most, and details how the majority of worker injuries are paid for, suggesting that up to 50% is paid for out of the worker’s pocket. Worker’s compensation, according to OSHA, is limited to around 21% of cost, with private health insurance picking up about 13%. Federal and state governments share an estimated 16% of costs.

OSHA also looks at the reasons for this inequality. For instance, the study suggests that less than 40% of eligible workers apply for worker’s compensation benefits, which raises the question of why these resources are not being accessed at a higher rate.

Continue Towards Progress

In general, the study points out some of the things that have been done in America to decrease the incidence of work accidents and injuries. At the same time, OSHA suggests that new efforts will yield even more benefits, not only to front-line workers and their families, but to the system as a whole. For example, researchers contend that workplace safety programs can decrease the need for Social Security disability payouts that are having a downward effect on government funding.

So whose responsibility is it to protect workers? The employer is where the buck stops in a workplace safety situation. The good news is that quality staffing services companies work hand-in-hand with other businesses to provide comprehensive, door-to-door worker safety programs. Partnering with a credible and experienced third-party staffing services firm can be one way that a company minimizes its risk, and protects its employees from harm.

For more, check out how Full Steam Staffing serves client businesses in the Ontario, California area.