Motor vehicle crashes cost US employers over $60 billion annually in medical costs, legal expenditure, property damage, and lost productivity. While costs by state and Industry vary, on-the-job crash injuries (fatal and non-fatal) amount to about 6.5 percent of all crash injuries. As a result, the cost of workers compensation, Social Security benefits, health and disability insurance continues to rise. An investment in a comprehensive motor vehicle accident prevention program can be a winning approach to reducing these expenses and an effective tool for helping limit your company`s liability exposure.Consider the Savings According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations report entitled The Economic Burden of Traffic Crashes on Employers (request a free copy of the 35-page report on the author`s web site), the average crash costs an employer $16,500. An employee that has an on-the-job crash resulting in an injury, costs their employer $74,000. In the case of a fatality, costs often go beyond $500,000. Additionally, off-the-job crashes not only affect individual employees, they are costly to the company as well. The aforementioned NHTS A report had this to say about potential financial benefits, Traffic safety programs are an alternative to reduce health care expenses to employers without reducing the benefits offered to employees. Protecting employees from motor vehicle crash injury can be a profitable investment of time and resources. Companies that utilize a crash avoidance program often realize immediate benefits due to the positive return-on-investment (ROI) from a well-designed safety agenda. Consider the findings of Liberty Mutual Insurance Companys report entitled Executive Survey of Workplace Safety. In their study, they found approximately 61 percent of questioned business executives think their companies receive an ROI of $3.00 or more for every $1.00 spent on improving worker safety.Protecting Valuable Assets Most well informed employers understand their employees are critical to the success of their business. Showing a commitment to protecting the safety and welfare of valuable workers can go a long way to help improve employee work satisfaction and retention.
