Masonry Magazine August 1987 Page. 45
INJURIES FALL 20 PERCENT
COSTS MORE THAN TRIPLE
Although the number of disabling industrial injuries in the U.S. are 20 percent below what they were in 1973, the cost per injury has risen by more than 300 percent since then, according to a report from the Du Pont Company's safety services group. The report is based on Bureau of Labor Statistics and National Safety Council data.
The 2.5 million disabling injuries reported in 1973 cost industry $14 billion, or $5,600 for each injury. In 1985, the last year for which data are available, the cost for each occurrence was $18,650. In that year, the 2 million recorded injuries totalled $37 billion.
Costs involved in an industry injury include lost wages, insurance, administrative and medical expenses, and related indirect costs, such as time lost by other workers.
"The cost for industrial injuries is rising faster than inflation," says John Lutness, product manager for safety services.
"This increase should continue for the next few years owing to a complex of related factors. Worker compensation awards are continuing to be more liberal and more common, as are those in industrial accident litigation. And both insurance premiums and medical fees are soaring," he says.
Long-term, Lutness sees accident rates and costs dropping as industry finds better ways to manage safety.
"Our experience as safety consultants for more than 600 companies of all sizes, has shown us that the key to improved safety rests with management. Safety must begin at the top of an organization and pervade it. As safety becomes part of a company's culture, its accident rate may plummet as much as 50 percent in one year," says Lutness.
Foreign Firms Earning U.S. Dollars
Of every dollar earned for construction in the United States, more than five cents goes to foreign contractors, Rene A. Henry Jr., president and CEO of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), told Congress recently.
Henry also said that U.S. builders and the manufacturers that supply them are unduly burdened by a product approval system that encourages illfounded litigation, the ultimate costs of which fall on the American consumer.
In 1985, the last year for which numbers are available, Henry said, "Of the estimated $134 billion in construction contracts awarded in the United States, $7.3 billion went to 59 foreign contractors. That was 24 percent more than in 1984, and double the amount in 1983."
German and Japanese firms won most of this business, he noted, but in one case, Yugoslavia won a competition to provide a steam generating plant for the U.S. Naval Base in Norfolk, Va.
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MASONRY-JULY/AUGUST, 1987 45