1
24-023
Demonstrating the Financial Impact of Mining Injuries with the
Updated Safety Pays in Mining V2.0 Web Application
J.R. Heberger
CDC NIOSH, Pittsburgh, PA USA
B.H. Ngo
University of Washington, Seattle, WA USA
ABSTRACT
The Safety Pays in Mining v2.0 web application, developed
by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) Mining Program, helps mines determine
the potential costs associated with mining injuries. This
web app categorizes injury cost by part of body injured, by
the cause of the injury, or by the nature of the injury. When
the user selects one of over 150 common types of mining
injuries, the app provides information on the distribution
of costs of workers’ compensation claims for that type of
injury. Based on other user inputs, Safety Pays in Mining
v2.0 will estimate the total costs of the selected injuries and
the estimated impact of total injury costs on mining com-
pany profits and will provide some examples of services and
personal protective equipment on which companies could
spend the savings that result from the prevention of inju-
ries. This paper reviews the Safety Pays in Mining version
2.0 web application by discussing the development and
updates to the app, how it is used to show the true costs
of mining injuries, and how mines can benefit from using
this app.
INTRODUCTION
Injuries on the job cause pain and suffering to the injured
employee and profoundly affect company profits and daily
operations (Cutler &James, 1996 Schulte, 2005). In addi-
tion to paying direct costs or increased premiums for work-
ers’ compensation insurance, a mine company might need
to pay indirect costs from the injury, which can include
paying overtime for other workers to fill an injured work-
er’s job role, cover training costs for a replacement worker,
or divert administrative resources after an injury (Leigh,
McCurdy, &Schenker, 2001). Safety Pays in Mining is a
web app developed by the NIOSH Mining Program that
estimates the distribution of these injury costs and assesses
the impact that occupational injuries have on a mining
company’s profits. This manuscript highlights the recent
updates made to the Safety Pays in Mining v2.0 app and
builds off of the results published in the original 2018 pub-
lication (Heberger, 2018).
Before the original Safety Pays in Mining web app
launched in 2017, the costs associated with specific types
of mining injuries had limited availability as mining and
insurance companies do not usually share this informa-
tion. Therefore, companies are likely to only have cost
information based on previous injury experience with their
own employees. As a result, if a mine never experienced
a concussion for one of its miners, it generally would not
be aware of the possible costs associated with this type of
injury. In addition, injury costs are unique in that the cost
distribution is so wide and right skewed that just using the
average mean cost of a specific injury type does not provide
adequate information. Some injuries involve immensely
high costs, and even though the risk of these high-cost
injuries occurring is low, mines need to be aware of their
potential impact on their company’s financial health.
Safety Pays in Mining was designed to enable users to
enter their own cost, sales, and profit margin values, or to
use the default values based on the mining industry to show
impact to profits. All injuries, costs, and values have been
updated from the 2017 version of Safety Pays in Mining
(Heberger, 2018). The app brings awareness of how much
specific injuries, such as burns, fractures, dislocations, and
sprains, might cost a mine—from $896 for a mean cost of
24-023
Demonstrating the Financial Impact of Mining Injuries with the
Updated Safety Pays in Mining V2.0 Web Application
J.R. Heberger
CDC NIOSH, Pittsburgh, PA USA
B.H. Ngo
University of Washington, Seattle, WA USA
ABSTRACT
The Safety Pays in Mining v2.0 web application, developed
by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) Mining Program, helps mines determine
the potential costs associated with mining injuries. This
web app categorizes injury cost by part of body injured, by
the cause of the injury, or by the nature of the injury. When
the user selects one of over 150 common types of mining
injuries, the app provides information on the distribution
of costs of workers’ compensation claims for that type of
injury. Based on other user inputs, Safety Pays in Mining
v2.0 will estimate the total costs of the selected injuries and
the estimated impact of total injury costs on mining com-
pany profits and will provide some examples of services and
personal protective equipment on which companies could
spend the savings that result from the prevention of inju-
ries. This paper reviews the Safety Pays in Mining version
2.0 web application by discussing the development and
updates to the app, how it is used to show the true costs
of mining injuries, and how mines can benefit from using
this app.
INTRODUCTION
Injuries on the job cause pain and suffering to the injured
employee and profoundly affect company profits and daily
operations (Cutler &James, 1996 Schulte, 2005). In addi-
tion to paying direct costs or increased premiums for work-
ers’ compensation insurance, a mine company might need
to pay indirect costs from the injury, which can include
paying overtime for other workers to fill an injured work-
er’s job role, cover training costs for a replacement worker,
or divert administrative resources after an injury (Leigh,
McCurdy, &Schenker, 2001). Safety Pays in Mining is a
web app developed by the NIOSH Mining Program that
estimates the distribution of these injury costs and assesses
the impact that occupational injuries have on a mining
company’s profits. This manuscript highlights the recent
updates made to the Safety Pays in Mining v2.0 app and
builds off of the results published in the original 2018 pub-
lication (Heberger, 2018).
Before the original Safety Pays in Mining web app
launched in 2017, the costs associated with specific types
of mining injuries had limited availability as mining and
insurance companies do not usually share this informa-
tion. Therefore, companies are likely to only have cost
information based on previous injury experience with their
own employees. As a result, if a mine never experienced
a concussion for one of its miners, it generally would not
be aware of the possible costs associated with this type of
injury. In addition, injury costs are unique in that the cost
distribution is so wide and right skewed that just using the
average mean cost of a specific injury type does not provide
adequate information. Some injuries involve immensely
high costs, and even though the risk of these high-cost
injuries occurring is low, mines need to be aware of their
potential impact on their company’s financial health.
Safety Pays in Mining was designed to enable users to
enter their own cost, sales, and profit margin values, or to
use the default values based on the mining industry to show
impact to profits. All injuries, costs, and values have been
updated from the 2017 version of Safety Pays in Mining
(Heberger, 2018). The app brings awareness of how much
specific injuries, such as burns, fractures, dislocations, and
sprains, might cost a mine—from $896 for a mean cost of