Citation

Klen T. J. Saf. Res. 1989; 20(1): 31-40.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1989, U.S. National Safety Council, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The cost structure was assessed for 364 cases in order to evaluate the total annual costs of temporarily disabling accidents in forestry. The costs of fatalities and permanent disabilities were calculated based on the production loss due to premature death or disability and other costs (e.g., rehabilitation). Data on temporarily disabling accidents were collected from two large forestry firms, one located in southern central Finland and the other in northern Finland. All of the fatalities were investigated individually. Over 60% of the costs of temporarily disabling accidents were covered by the employers, about 30% by public administration, and less than 10% by the forestry workers. The average total costs of temporarily disabling accidents to the national economy and to employers were obtained by multiplying the legal accident indemnity by 3.9 and 2.4, respectively. The indirect cost to employers seemed to be surprisingly low -- only 17% of total costs. Thus, the ratio of employers' indirect costs to their total costs was only 1 : 6, although it has been reported as 4 : 5 in some other industries. The accident costs were 5% to 7% of the loggers' wages and less than 1% of the net national product of forest economy. Fatalities and permanent disabilities accounted for 15% to 25% of the total annual costs.