Help achieve cost reductions with Oracle Workforce Health and Safety

Synopsys:

Organizations worldwide pay an expensive price due to the costs stemming from illnesses and injuries. From lost productivity to medical expense liability, the mounting costs can quickly become burdensome on businesses of all sizes. However, research has consistently shown that when companies invest in measures to prevent workplace illnesses and injuries, these investments can pay for themselves and enable additional savings. A company’s HCM solution is a key part of helping to mitigate those risks, and Oracle Cloud HCM’s Workforce Health and Safety functionality provides native functionality to build a culture of safety and compliance.

Article:

For more than two centuries, people have repeated the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” First stated to residents of Philadelphia in 1736 by Benjamin Franklin, who was encouraging efforts to prevent fires, this timeless proverb holds global truth: prevention more than pays for itself.[i]

How big of an issue is health and safety?

Workplace injuries and illnesses are both expansive and expensive. According to the numbers:

Globally, per year:

• 395 million workers worldwide sustain non-fatal work-related injuries
• 330,000 deaths from occupational accidents
• 2.6 million deaths from work-related illnesses[ii]
• Data covering 181 countries shows a 26% increase in workplace injuries and illnesses over a recent six-year period[iii]

In the US:

• 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2022, up 7.5% from 2021[iv]
• Accidents and illnesses cost $167 billion annually, this cost breaks down as:
  • Per worker: $1,040
  • Per death: $1,390,000
  • Per medically consulted injury: $40,000 [v]
• Serious, non-fatal workplace injuries account for $48.15 billion per year in workers compensation costs[vi]

In the UK:

• Workplace injuries and illnesses cost £20.7 billion per year, with £13.1 billion for illness and £7.7 billion for injuries[vii]

Overall, simple falls even on the same level or even just overexertion are two of the largest causes of workplace injuries.[viii]

What makes injuries and illnesses so expensive?

Understanding the financial impact of injuries and illnesses is crucial. The immediate answer to this question is the medical cost of treating the injury or disease. That sum can vary considerably based on how expensive healthcare is in each country. However, two types of expenses must be considered: direct and indirect.

Direct Costs: Workers’ compensation, medical expenses, and costs for legal services

Indirect Costs: Retraining, accident investigation and implementation of corrective measures, lost productivity, damage to equipment, reputational risk, and costs associated with lower employee morale and absenteeism[ix]

Using the US as an example, according to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), a division of the Department of Labor, indirect costs can range anywhere from $1.10 to $4.50 for every $1 in direct costs.[x]

To what degree is prevention worth it?

The numbers are resoundingly clear about investing in prevention. The US authorized OSHA in 1970, providing a baseline for workplace health and safety standards. Following OSHA’s implementation, workplace fatalities have declined by 63% and workplace injury and illness rates have declined by 75% since 1972.[xi]

OSHA estimates that businesses can expect an average return of up to $4-$6 in areas such as reduced workers’ compensation costs and lost workdays for every dollar invested into workplace safety programs.[xii]

The Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service implemented a revised health and safety framework in the UK. The result was a 50% reduction in injuries over three years and a £100,000 reduction in insurance liability premiums.[xiii]

How does HCM play a role?

Businesses need an HCM solution to manage increasingly global workforces, including HR, talent management, workforce management, payroll, and analytics.

Health and safety can and should be a vital component of that solution. While many HCM solutions have features such as time and labor or absence management, when it comes to illness and injuries, those features help manage the aftermath. The goal should be to prevent those cases from occurring in the first place.

A health and safety solution should be an integral part of an HCM solution, promoting a culture of workforce safety and compliance. Benefits of that can include:

• Reducing costs associated with workforce compensation
• Decreasing accidents and workplace hazards through root case analysis
• Mitigating risk by capturing more incidents sooner and enabling follow-up actions
• Spending less time managing the incident reporting process
• Supporting compliance with better data for analysis and reporting

How can Oracle Workforce Health and Safety help?

Oracle Workforce Health and Safety, part of Oracle Cloud HCM, allows organizations manage environmental health and safety incidents effectively and simply. Key features include:

• Reporting incidents and completing inspections in a fast, streamlined process for all workers on any devices
• Capturing critical event information, such as documentation and photos
• Collecting compliance data to support regulatory reporting
• Collecting hazard data such as including incidents, near misses, and unsafe conditions
• Discovering root causes of incidents and driving responses
• Tracking and analyzing safety using KPIs
• Embedding learning content for training and compliance
• Implementing quickly, leveraging Core HR data and processes as a native part of Oracle Cloud

There are other HCM products with health and safety options available on the market, but they often need to rely on partners for full functionality. Workday has some more basic features, but customers requiring a more robust solution would need a third-party integration such as Intelex.[xiv] Similarly, SAP SuccessFactors has a third-party module known as SafetyFactors-Environmental Health & Safety which is available for purchase.[xv]

Oracle Workforce Health and Safety is part of Oracle Cloud HCM, a comprehensive, end-to-end solution natively built for the cloud from the ground up. Not only is it adaptable and configurable to provide companies with flexibility, but it is seamlessly integrated across the entire platform.

Kotak Mahindra Bank is among the global network of clients who have realized more safety, cost savings, and productivity with Oracle Cloud HCM. Headquartered in Mumbai, the bank has 1,612 branches and faced the challenge of managing a newly remote workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic. Workforce Health and Safety helped with data collection, keeping the bank from having to re-create its employee database, ultimately helping to keep branch workers safe all over the country. Visit https://www.oracle.com/customers/kotak-mahindra-bank/  for more information about how Kotak Mahindra Bank faced its challenges.

Want to learn more about Oracle Workforce Health and Safety?

Help build a culture of workforce safety and compliance. Visit https://www.oracle.com/human-capital-management/workforce-management/ for more information.