In just 2013 there were over sixteen thousand burn injuries reported by workplaces, with almost fifteen hundred of these resulting in lost work time. A third of the injured who missed work due to their injuries were out for over thirty one days. One hundred forty eight of these workers died from their burns created by industrial fires or explosions.
This means that on average, a worker dies from workplace burns every two-and-a-half days.
Between 2000 and 2013 over 2,300 American workers died from injuries caused by industrial burns, which averages to 164 deaths each year.
The costs that come with a burn injury can be enormous and quickly reach millions of dollars when medical costs, legal fees, insurance costs, and OSHA fines are added together. Burns can be incredibly expensive to treat, with moderate burns costing over two hundred thousand dollars, and severe burns going over a million dollars. If there are complications this number can increase exponentially, and if multiple workers are injured at the same time this cost can become huge.
On top of these costs, the company is still paying wages for the injured employee while suffering from lost productivity. If the incident is reported by the news it can cause a negative image for the company, and they might lose sales or business contracts due to it.
Instead of waiting to spend the money after an accidental burn, a company should invest in an Employee Safety Program to prevent the causes of these burns and reducing worker injuries. There are two main ways to accomplish this:
The first is to provide employees with the proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to safely deal with risks surrounding their work. Burn tests found that a pure cotton outfit will result in burn injuries to almost eighty seven percent of a body, but flame-resistant clothing reduces the burn to just ten percent. If an accident occurs and workers are at risk of getting burned, having the proper PPE can greatly reduce their injuries and save their lives.
The second way to invest in worker safety is to remove the source of accidental fires and explosions. OSHA says there are over two hundred fires in workplaces across the United States every day. The fire triangle and explosion pentagon both show that removing the fuel source can effectively remove the risk of a fire or explosion. One fuel for explosions that OSHA and the NFPA have become concerned about, and are fining heavily for, is combustible dust.
If you want to add fire and explosion safety to your Employee Safety Program you need to make sure your facility doesn’t have any combustible dust hazards present. Contact a representative at Hughes Environmental to learn more about how we can help you keep your building safe.