Workplace First Aid cabinets are a useful, and often required, item for many businesses. While they present an expense, this investment can pay dividends through better workplace safety outcomes. By lowering healthcare costs, improving productivity, and reducing fees and potential liability, an investment in good First Aid and safety products can save a from skyrocketing expenses.
Keep reading to learn 5 major financial benefits that come from workplace First Aid.
1. Lower Healthcare Costs
Healthcare is expensive, and emergency rooms and urgent care can be a major cost for both your employees and your insurance plan. The average cost of an emergency room visit ranges $1,500 to $3,000. Multiple emergency room visits from workplace accidents can drive your insurance rates through the roof.
Good workplace First Aid and safety can help cut down on expensive emergency room visits and bills. If a First Aid cabinet can provide treatment to prevent even one trip to the emergency room, it can provide major savings. In businesses where cuts, burns, and other accidents are relatively common, like a kitchen or factory, these savings quickly add up.
How your First Aid supplies are organized can also alleviate serious injuries and potentially prevent emergency room visits, or at least lower the cost of the final treatment. First Aid Cabinets with grab-and-go modules can help with common issues like burns or cuts, keeping everything you need to treat these injuries in one organized location.
2. Reduced Lost Productivity & Downtime
If a worker is injured and needs to visit the emergency room or urgent care, their absence will be felt. Other team members may need to help with their responsibilities, taking time away from their own duties. If your workforce is stretched thin and juggling tasks, that could even lead to more accidents. And if your injured employee has an essential role, their absence could even bring operations to a halt.
Losing productivity has a direct impact on the bottom line. The National Safety Council estimates that the total cost of work injuries in 2023 was a staggering $176.5 billion. Between lost productivity, medical expenses, and administrative costs, accidents and injuries can present a massive expense for any business.
Once again, First Aid and safety equipment can make a massive difference. Even for minor injuries, you’ll have less downtime if your team can grab a bandage from a cabinet instead of leaving to a nearby store. If First Aid supplies can prevent an emergency room visit, that can save hours, or days, of downtime.
Even in cases of severe accidents and injuries that require the emergency room or even hospitalization, workplace First Aid cabinets, automated external defibrillators (AEDs), and eyewash stations can provide immediate treatment that can help with more long-term care. Getting some First Aid right away can make the difference between a day in the hospital and potential weeks of downtime.
As workplace First Aid keeps your team productive, it will save money from administrative costs, overtime wages, and lost profits. Keeping your workplace running smoothly will keep it making money, and First Aid cabinets can help.
3. Lower Workers’ Compensation & Insurance Claims
Beyond the expenses of healthcare costs and the cost of lost productivity, workers’ compensation claims can drive up your costs even more. These claims have an average cost of $44,179, according to the National Safety Council. Workers’ compensation is a separate expense from healthcare insurance, so if an employee is injured on the job, you will essentially be paying twice for the same incident.
Once again, the financial benefits of workplace First Aid and safety can be enormous. Quick treatment of an injury can reduce the cost of an expensive claim, which can have a big impact on your workers’ compensation insurance premiums. An investment in First Aid can pay for itself on the first claim.
4. Avoid Fees & Legal Costs
Healthcare expenses and workers’ comp aren’t the end of potential costs from workplace injuries. If your workplace lacks adequate safety supplies or your business is responsible for an accident, you could be found liable and face extremely steep fines and legal fees.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration takes workplace safety seriously, and they can charge up to $16,550 for violations. Businesses that willfully or repeatedly violate safety standards can be fined up to $165,514 for every single incident.
And OSHA fees are only the start. If an incident happens due to unsafe working conditions or your team doesn’t have adequate First Aid supplies for treatment, you could face expensive lawsuits and enormous settlements.
A comprehensive workplace safety program can help alleviate potential fines and settlements, and First Aid cabinets are a key part. Walk through your workplace regularly and make sure your team has the right uniforms for the job, your floors are clean and clear of debris, and you have enough First Aid and safety supplies for your employees and customers.
If a First Aid Cabinet can prevent even one OSHA fine or lawsuit, it has paid for itself many times over. Once again, an investment in safety can pay dividends by preventing expensive liability issues for your business.
5. Long-term ROI Through Risk Management
From lawsuits to lost productivity to health and workers’ comp insurance, expenses from inadequate workplace safety can easily skyrocket. Major violations and liability could even lead to bankruptcy.
Ensuring proper workplace safety and First Aid is an investment in the long-term financial health of your business. Studies show that every $1 invested in a workplace safety program can save $4 to $6 on the direct cost of injuries and illnesses. Some studies suggest that the indirect cost of incidents can be up to 10 times higher than the direct costs, due to:
Training and paying replacement staff
Repairing damaged property
Lost products
Investigative and administrative costs
Scheduling and production delays
Overtime costs
Lowered morale
Poor public perception
All of these issues can create upfront short-term costs and compounding long-term consequences. If $1 in safety can have up to 10x ROI, that’s an investment that makes sense.
Invest in Safety Without Breaking the Bank
A First Aid cabinet with everything you need can help your business save a lot of time and money over time, but it also doesn’t need to be a big expense. With our First Aid Cabinet rental service, we’ll install, restock, and maintain your First Aid Cabinets and inventory of supplies, all for one monthly fee. We don’t overcharge for luxury items or brand names, and we’ll set everything up without any installation costs.
With a managed First Aid program, you also save time and money restocking your supplies. You don’t have to worry about buying bandages or replacing expired medication at retail pricing. We take care of everything with simple flat-rate billing. Along with our First Aid Cabinets, we also offer eyewash stations and AEDs, plus comprehensive Safety Stations that keep all these products in one place. We also have uniforms, floor mats, mops, PPE, soap and sanitizer, and everything you need to keep your workplace safe and clean.
Contact us to learn more about our First Aid and safety services.