Costs of occupational accidents in the Nordic furniture industry (Sweden, Norway, FInland)

Söderqvist, A., Rundmo, T. and Aaltonen, M., 1990. Costs of occupational accidents in the nordic furniture industry (Sweden, Norway, Finland). Journal of Occupational Accidents, 12: 79–88.

An empirical study of the costs of occupational accidents was carried out during 1986-87 in 57 furniture companies in Finland, Norway and Sweden, employing 5,000 cabinet-makers. The sample covered 18 percent of the furniture manufacturing industry in the three countries. The main objective of this study was to increase safety management motivation. The layout of the study was identical in all three. A total of 460 accidents were investigated. The consequences of each accident were identified and analyzed.

The costing is based on three costing models, called the market pricing model, the accounting model, and the spare-capacity model. The latter was developed within the project and tested in Norway and Sweden. Total costs calculated with the spare-capacity model were 4 times greater than costs calculated with the market pricing model. The accounting model reflects management perception of losses, but is not adequate to mirror the true accident costs. Using of the traditional market pricing model, monetary losses can easily be underestimated.

The cost analyses indicate that the company costs for the sample of participating firms in Finland are 0.5%, in Norway 0.3% and in Sweden 0.2% of the total wages using the market pricing model. A substantial portion of the total costs were borne by other than the company. Owing to the differences of insurance rules, the costs that firms incur would appear to be about 63% in Finland, 44% in Norway and in Sweden only about 9% of costs for lost production time (n = 399).