Traffic Safety Matters in the Workplace
Businesses incur enormous economic costs each year from traffic crashes through lost productivity, workers’ compensation, medical costs, substitute labor and higher insurance premiums. Employers pay for injuries that happen both on and off the job – costing employers about $60 billion annually from 1998-2000 and resulting in three million lost workdays. Two-thirds of the cost ($40 billion) was from on-the-job crashes while one-third was from off-the-job crashes for employees and their benefit-eligible dependents.
- Work-related roadway crashes are the leading cause of death from traumatic injuries in the U.S. workforce, and the average crash costs an employer around $16,500. Every four days, an employee dies in a work-related crash.
- On average, forty-one percent of the average vehicle miles traveled per household are from commuting to and from work and driving on work-related business.
- Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people ages 3-6 and 8-34. Crashes on and off the job have far-reaching financial and psychological effects on employees, their coworkers, families and employers.
Whether you manage a fleet of vehicles, oversee a mobile sales force or simply employ commuters, by implementing a driver safety program in the workplace you can greatly reduce the risks faced by your employees and their families while protecting your company’s bottom line.
The Kansas Traffic Safety Resource Office offers free educational trainings on traffic safety to employers. To find out more, contact KTSRO at 800-416-2522.
Employers: Did you know?
• Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of occupational fatalities in the U.S.
• The most dangerous part of the day for any employee is the time they spend in their vehicle. A crash occurs every 5 seconds, property damage occurs every 7 seconds, an injury occurs every 10 seconds, and a motor vehicle fatality occurs every 12 minutes.
• The average on the job crash costs an employer about $16,500 or just under $0.16 per mile driven. Crashes involving injuries cost substantially more - $504,408 for a fatal injury and $73,750 for a non-fatal injury.
• The development, implementation, enforcement, and monitoring of a strong driver safety program can protect an organization’s human and financial resources. Such a program allows an organization to be proactive in controlling crash risks and is the first line of defense against the potentially staggering costs from motor vehicle crashes involving employees.
