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An Accident Waiting to Happen: The Role of Software in Accident Prevention

If you haven't had a serious accident yet, consider yourself lucky. Or overdue.

In a single year:

  • More than 2.9 million workers suffer a job-related injury or illness -- or nearly 3 out of every 100 workers
  • 892,300 of these cases involve days away from work
  • 5,190 workers die on the job -- that's more than 14 workers every day
  • Workplace injuries cost society around $128 billion in losses, which equals one-quarter of each dollar of pre-tax corporate profits
  • Negligent environmental violations result in over 153 years of incarceration, plus fines of $2.8B for individual and corporate defendants, $3M in court ordered environmental projects, and $147M in restitution

(Source: BLS, US EPA, ASSE)

Despite numerous safety and environmental regulations, companies are still vulnerable to accidents. As we saw above, an accident can cost your company millions of dollars in fines, medical and legal expenses, and lost profits. It can ruin your corporate reputation. And it can even cost you your career. 

How EHS software helps prevent accidents

EHS management software is an important way to ensure compliance and prevent a serious accident. By manually tracking your data in spreadsheets or paper records, you could miss potential accidents. 

Software helps you capture meaningful and timely data to make informed decisions. It helps you stay on top of your federal, state, and local compliance obligations. And it helps you find and fix hazards before accidents, injuries, or deaths occur.

Using EHS software can be an effective way to prevent accidents. But in order to reap the full benefits of software, EHS leaders need to stop looking at it as a digital filing cabinet and start looking at it as a valuable source of intelligence. Automated reminders, configurable alerts, and event-triggered corrective actions are just some of the ways EHS leaders can use software to get ahead of accident risks. Additionally, dynamic dashboards can help you and your team get a clear picture of your risk profile in real-time. 

While no one can predict when and where an accident will happen, EHS software is the closest thing you will find to a crystal ball. 

>>> Visit our EHS Risk Management guide

The cost of doing nothing

Budget concerns hold many companies back from investing in EHS software. Business leaders worry about not only the initial purchase price of a solution, but also how much it will cost to implement, support, and maintain.

But if you think EHS software is expensive, consider this: A single injury costs companies an average of $37,000, while a fatality costs nearly $1.4 million, according to the American Society of Safety Engineers. 

This figure doesn't take into consideration hidden costs like damage to your reputation, morale, and overall competitiveness and financial performance. 

When you look at it that way, it's easy to see that the benefits of EHS software far outweigh the costs. A properly implemented system can pay for itself by preventing a single incident.  

Conclusion

Software is a powerful tool against accident risks. Even if you've had an impressive compliance and safety track record, now is the time to seek out software. Don't risk a hit to your company's reputation and your career. 

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