THE COST OF A WORKPLACE FATALITY
PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT
High-voltage equipment, heavy machinery and moving vehicles make it undeniable that rail yards and depots are high risk environments to work in. Whilst the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) Annual Health and Safety Report 2016 stated overall harm at yards, depots and sidings was at its lowest level since consistent recording began in 2007-08, there is still more to be done. The ORR report goes on to detail how its investigation found depots to have an inconsistent approach to managing risk to the workforce, and while some had a strong approach to staff safety, other depots were found to have developed their own individual safety culture, which was described to be poor, with only ad hoc risk control arrangements.
It is difficult to obtain a precise figure of the cost of a fatality, but when considering the cost of legal proceedings, medical and emergency services charges, damage to equipment as a result of the fatality, loss of production, insurance costs and an unquantifiable cost of human grief and suffering, then a figure between £2 million and £7 million is not unreasonable.
This cost is crippling to all but a few large organisations, so it is vit…
