You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Prevention is the best cure,” many times over the years. It will never be more real to you than the moment when something bad happens, that would otherwise have been catastrophic, had you not taken some sort of preventative action. Whether it’s a house fire or car accident when insurance prevented things from getting even worse or a computer meltdown you salvaged by saving your business proposal or project in the cloud or on a thumb drive, prevention came make a hardship more bearable.
Small business owners everywhere face one underlying problem: money is tight. It’s hard to justify expenses that don’t provide an immediately visible return on investment. Many of them have a hard time reconciling the expense of active programs to prevent illnesses and injuries on the job. However, an ounce of prevention, in these instances, is worth so much more than that pound of cure.
What are the Business Benefits of Illness and Injury Prevention?
Before you invest the time, money, and careful attention required to create a successful illness and injury prevention program for your business, it makes sense that you want to know what’s in it for you. Businesses benefit from illness and injury prevention programs such as this in many ways. Here are a few ways that really affect your bottom line however.
- Saves money – Preventing one single disabling injury, illness, or death will more than pay for the program.
- Reduces absenteeism – Even small or minor injuries and illnesses from hazards on the job can lead to short or long-term employee absences.
- Improves employee morale – Employees understand that these programs are in investment in them. It shows them that you, as a business owner, care about their health and well-being.
- Reduces lawsuit risks – Unsafe work conditions or failure to educate your employees about the risks they face on the job could lead to major lawsuits – and there are hundreds of lawyers lurking in the shadows to fan the flames after every workplace injury.
- Better overall productivity – when injuries occur, and long-term absences are the result, productivity suffers. Whether you continue working with a man down, hire temporary help to fill in the gaps, or hire and train new workers, there are learning curves involves and productivity suffers as a result.
- Greater employee retention rates – this one says it all. It pays to have experienced workers on your team. The longer you can retain employees, the greater your return on investment for hiring and training them is.
- Improved job satisfaction – people are happier when they feel safe and protected in the jobs they do. Even jobs most people view as dangerous are much safer when employees follow proper protocols.
According to OSHA, more than 12 workers die on the job every day; this comes to approximately 4,500 employee deaths in a year. More than 4.1 million workers each year suffer from serious work-related injuries or illnesses as well. When it comes to the men and women who work for you, preventing one major illness, injury, or death makes it well worth the investment for your business. All small businesses need programs to prevent illnesses and injuries. Don’t forget the importance of investing in business insurance to help mitigate many of these risks, in addition to your preventative efforts.
