Who bears the most of the cost of a workplace accident? Employer ! Community!! Workers!!!

In a blog (safetyatworkblog.com), it is reported that 95% of the cost of a workplace accident is borne by the workers and community, whereas the employers incurs the balance. If this is true, then, employers are making profit at the cost of the society even during accidents. Though, it is not clear, how this data is arrived at, however, it is true that a business minded person passes on all his costs to his customers and he may add a percentage of the total costs (including those incurred due to incidents/accidents) as his profit. Can we draw from this, by stating that the higher the input costs, higher the profit. May be the breakeven period will be more, but afterwards, profits will be more. I am not an economist, but with my thought process, I am putting this analysis.

Rare surgery, thumb reconstructed from toe

In a rare surgery, a carpenter is able to write, hold and eat after his right hand thumb was reconstructed from one of his foot toes. The carpenter lost is thumb while working and six weeks after the surgery at Yashoda Hospital, Secunderabad, he could do most of the jobs. It is reported that such surgery was done 20 years before at NIMS (Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderbad, India), but public awareness about such rare surgeries is almost negligible.

Dangerous lift, boy looses life

A boy died in the lift of an apartment under construction while playing inside the lift. The lift moved with boy's leg between the lift door and the wall. The lift stopped after moving some distance by which boy died. A case was registered on lift maintenance agency under IPC for rash/negligent act.
It is not clear from the reports,  how the lift is allowed for use without interlock between lift movement and door position. It is not clear from the news, whether the door is foldable grill type and the boy while playing put his leg through openings of the grill and somebody in someother floor pressed the button causing the lift to move.

Confined Space Entry ,BP Guidelines

Confined space jobs are very dangerous as one has to work in unknown atmospheres. Here is a link to BP Guidelines on confined space entry, found at Petroleum Community forum.

Confined Space Entry ,BP Guidelines

LINK

List of issues to be looked for during safety inspection

Link for a post on the above topic appeared in the internet is given below.

http://www.chemicalplantsafety.net/safety-inspection/a-must-have-list-of-safety-inspection-checklist/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ChemicalPlantSafety+%28Chemical+Plant+Safety+Resources%29

Mine accidents - a way to reach the trapped workers

This post is about a rescue operation of trapped miners about 45 years ago, narrated to me by a known person. He was working as a doctor in those mines. Some mine workers were trapped during drilling and authorities could not find it easy to rescue them. Then, based on the advise of an employee, they contacted local thieves, who used to steal valuables from the mines. One of them, confessed about a secret way to reach the location of mine collapse, by which all trapped miners were rescued within a day of the incident.

It is funny, but is a valuable lesson.

Charge the vehicle owners for parking on the roads

At many places, people park their vehicles in front of their houses on the roads, leading to narrowing of roads and accidents. It is mandatory to leave sufficient space (about 10 ft or more depending upon the plot area) in front of the house upto their compound wall. But, hardly this norm is followed. Overcome by greed, people leave little space and construct the houses upto their boundary, and may be sometimes encroaching their neighbour's area or public road. Naturally, this leads to no parking space and occupants park their vehicles on the roads. All such vehicles should be taken over by local authorities and charge heavy penalties. If there is no response within specified period (say two weeks), the vehicle should be put up for auction. There are thousands of vehicles of all categories that are parked on the roads and I feel this brings sufficient income for the local authorities and also bring discipline among the greedy.