Citation

Panopoulos GD, Booth RT. Pol. Pract. Health Saf. 2007; 5(1): 61-73.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (Great Britain))

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper examines the business case for safety on the basis of published work, the impact of statutory duties, and a novel cost-benefit re-evaluation of the economic case for seeking to achieve 'zero accidents'. The paper engages with these issues mainly in the context of the construction industry. It describes a number of empirical challenges when seeking to determine the overall costs of safety, namely the sum of the costs of accidents, the costs of preventing accidents (and occupational ill health) and, ideally, the costs of safety management failures, including a reputation (image) cost. The business case for safety is supported by the findings of cost-benefit analyses of targeted interventions to reduce accidents and ill health, although studies to determine the costs of accidents (without measuring the prevention costs) are less persuasive. The re-casting of the conventional safety cost-benefit analysis presentation reveals that the pursuit of zero accidents may be the best economic outcome in some plausible circumstances.