Important Health & Safety Terms
1. Health
Absence of physical or psychological ill health.
Long-term diseases (e.g., asbestos exposure → lung cancer after 20–30 years).
Includes mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, or breakdowns.
2. Safety
Absence of risk of serious personal injury.
Example: Walking under a suspended crane load = unsafe → risk of fatal injury.
3. Welfare
Access to basic workplace facilities:
o Toilets, hand-wash stations
o Rest rooms
o Drinking water
o Clean food preparation areas
o Changing rooms and first aid
Reasons to Manage Health & Safety
There are three reasons:
1. Moral
2. Financial
3. Legal
In these notes, we focus on Moral and Financial.
1. Moral Reasons
Meaning
Ethical responsibility of employers to protect workers from harm.
Every worker has the right to return home safe and healthy.
Why It Matters
Accidents cause death, injury, and life-changing diseases.
Families, colleagues, and communities suffer emotionally and financially.
Negligence can destroy lives → morally unacceptable.
ILO Statistics
350,000+ annual fatal work-related accidents.
2.75 million total deaths from occupational accidents and diseases each year.
270 million accidents + 160 million diseases recorded globally.
4% of global GDP lost annually due to injuries, deaths, and absences.
These numbers represent real people and families.
Conclusion
Moral arguments shape expectations, which later become law.
Safety is both a human right and an ethical duty.
2. Financial Reasons
Meaning
Poor safety costs money; good safety saves money.
Accidents lead to direct and indirect financial losses.
Direct Costs
Measurable and immediate after an accident:
First aid and medical bills.
Sick pay for injured worker.
Repair or replacement of damaged equipment.
Damage to product or materials.
Lost production during the incident response.
Indirect Costs
Hidden, long-term, difficult to measure:
Low staff morale → reduced productivity.
Hiring and training new workers.
Loss of business and customer goodwill.
Damage to company reputation.
Delayed orders and cancellations.
Potential strikes or poor industrial relations.
Indirect costs are often more destructive than direct ones.
Example
A factory fire due to ignored safety →
Loss of machinery, production halt, cancelled orders, decreased customer trust, reputation
loss.
Case Study
Deepwater Horizon (2010):
Oil rig explosion caused massive financial loss to BP.
Billions in legal penalties + cleanup costs.
Severe reputational damage.
A real example of how safety failures cripple businesses.
Insured vs Uninsured Costs
Insured Costs
Covered by insurance:
Damage to buildings, plant, equipment.
Medical costs.
Worker compensation.
Civil legal costs.
Uninsured Costs
NOT covered by insurance:
Production delays and downtime.
Accident investigation costs.
Raw material loss.
Overtime payments to recover production.
Hiring/training replacement workers.
Loss of reputation and customer trust.
Criminal fines (cannot be insured).
HSE UK says uninsured costs are typically 8–36 times higher (average 10x).
This is called the Uninsured Loss Iceberg — most losses are hidden below the surface.
