“Lost time accident” meaning

[Mike Szadaj]

I found this keychain coin holder from Jefferson assembly plant. It claims over 2 million hours without a lost time accident. That number of hours is equal to 11 1/2 years. Considering that probably at least one person got hurt in that plant every day, exactly what is a lost time accident? Does that mean shutting the line down?

 

[Sahara]

When I worked in the mine, in the Steelworkers union, a lost time accident was one that a person was sent home for. If you cut your finger and put a bandage on and went back to work, that was fine. Cut your finger off and go to hospital, that was a lost time accident. If you have a thousand guys working eight hours a day, on three shifts per day you accumulate 24,000 hours per day.

 

[fratzog lover]

That's still not a bad record!

 

[Mike Szadaj]

If you have a thousand guys working eight hours a day, on three shifts per day you accumulate 24,000 hours per day.

I agree with you that the 2 million hours number must represent man hours. That being the case, I think it is a very misleading way of recording a safety record. Of course if they used an honest method, like the number of days without a lost time accident, they would probably very rarely reach a month.
PS, I worked at Chrysler mound road engine for nine years making 318 and 340 engines, so I am very aware of the corporate assembly plant mindset.

 

[Sahara]

I think when I worked in the mine we counted eight hour shifts, but that was forty years ago and I could be mistaken. And heaven help you if you were the guy that broke the record. One guy on my dad’s shift went home with an ingrown toenail. Couldn’t understand what everyone hated him...
Some of the prizes that we got for high scores were amazing. Lots of mugs, belt buckles, hats kind of stuff. Everyone on my dads shift got a Woods 5 Star sleeping bag one time. That was worth about almost weeks wages. I still have it. Currently I think they are around $750.

 

[Richard Cranium]

I think when I worked in the mine we counted eight hour shifts, but that was forty years ago and I could be mistaken. And heaven help you if you were the guy that broke the record. One guy on my dad’s shift went home with an ingrown toenail. Couldn’t understand what everyone hated him...
Some of the prizes that we got for high scores were amazing. Lots of mugs, belt buckles, hats kind of stuff. Everyone on my dads shift got a Woods 5 Star sleeping bag one time. That was worth about almost weeks wages. I still have it. Currently I think they are around $750.

Did you ever sing this in the mine?

 

[peabodyracin]

From an employer's point of view, these issues can be just as frustrating. We had 60 some employees and happened to track working days without a lost time accident. There was a board by the time clock that we changed every day as we kept count.

I remember one time we were at 460 some days without a lost time accident. An employee came in to work on a Monday with a note from a Dr indicating he was to take 3 days off because of leg pain. This was to be followed by 2 weeks of avoiding continuous standing/walking. He was an inspector on the production line, so it was a bit difficult to accommodate his work restrictions. As was normal procedure, we investigated what had happened to see what could be done to prevent such an occurrence.

In talking with the employee, he indicated his leg started hurting about 3 weeks earlier. He couldn't point to a specific day or incident nor did he have any recollection of how it may have happened. He hadn't reported it to anyone at the time. "it just hurt" We asked the employee why he hadn't mentioned the discomfort to someone here when it first came up. He just shrugged his shoulders.

He was also on a bowling league, and continued throughout this period to bowl each week. He then decided to go see his Dr about it. The visit ended up with us having to record a lost time injury with 2 weeks restricted time recorded as well. Of course going forward he continued to bowl each week.

 

[Lefty71]

Did you ever sing this in the mine?

Didnt he steal that from DEVO??

 

[HawkRod]

Some of the prizes that we got for high scores were amazing. Lots of mugs, belt buckles, hats kind of stuff. Everyone on my dads shift got a Woods 5 Star sleeping bag one time. That was worth about almost weeks wages. I still have it. Currently I think they are around $750.

Companies love to get lots of hours without a "lost time" incident because it translates into lower insurance rates, not to mention avoiding having to pay an employee who is hurt but not working. So many give prizes and incentives to the employees.

 

[WileERobby]

 

[Slap Stick]

"2000 hours without a lost time accident since that car fell on Joe and killed him".

 

[Ron H]

per osha a lost time accident starts the following day of the accident. If a guy get's hurt 10 minutes after their shift starts, goes to the doc and doesn't return until the following day - non lost time accident. Had a wunnerful time keeping osha recordable injury logs for a few years..

 

[Ron H]

I think when I worked in the mine we counted eight hour shifts, but that was forty years ago and I could be mistaken. And heaven help you if you were the guy that broke the record. One guy on my dad’s shift went home with an ingrown toenail. Couldn’t understand what everyone hated him...
Some of the prizes that we got for high scores were amazing. Lots of mugs, belt buckles, hats kind of stuff. Everyone on my dads shift got a Woods 5 Star sleeping bag one time. That was worth about almost weeks wages. I still have it. Currently I think they are around $750.

Could write a book about osha dealing with that agency for decades. Well, it was a decent living. Osha got on employers having safety incentive programs that created negative peer pressure or disincentives for reporting injuries. Another one of their poorly planned overreaches scaring employers. This included celebrating milestones. Had a debate with them about the common difficulties with obtaining and sustaining safety ‘interest’ as employers will celebrate sales, production, quality accomplishments that have included reducing scrap or rework rates.

Point was consider clarifying their signals to employers such as it should still be fine to have safety celebrations such as bringing in pizza or subs, have gifts, or monetary awards. (Latter being a form of profit sharing.) Companies that do well lowering their accident rates achieve a lower premium modification and a return in premium on a loss-sensitive premium plan (work comp). Some will pass this savings on to their employees.
Things are different today as more customers now require their suppliers have a good safety record or they won’t do business with them. Longer story; but I’m glad I’m retired...cuz I got real tired, lol.

 

[Dipstick]

At a place I worked back in the early sixties, I guy fell through a false ceiling and broke a leg. He came to work the next day and sat at a desk for a month so it wasn't considered a "lost time accident".

 

[patrick66]

Been trying to find online where I saw (a joke sign, I hope!) where it said "2 days without a Hurt Feelings report"

 

[Cranky]

Where I worked if you got hurt where you couldn't do your regular job but could work say in the tool room, it saved them from having a lost time injury. I sprained my ankle once and ended up working in the tool room and running the drill pointer too. That part sucked but I got all the messed up and dull drill bits done in record time lol.

 

[Ron H]

If any are familiar with work comp ‘premium modification’, it’s a subset of calculating WC premium for a company; discount for good safety experience, a surcharge for bad – reducing or increasing the premium. The killer with this lengthy calculation is any injuries that result in lost time triggering indemnity payments…lights the mod up. Thus the interest in ‘light duty work’ programs. Osha’s definition of a lost time injury is different than it is for work comp. Most states, under their WC laws, have a 3 day waiting period for indemnity payments after the date of injury. The gist is finding a job for the injured employee before these payments are triggered. As mentioned in my earlier post, more employers are concerned today as a mod above average for their class of biz can disqualify them from bidding on contracts plus their osha ‘injury incident rate’ for recordable injuries can toss them out. This can be a bitch for small employers. Lol, too much info NO doubt.

 

[Sahara]

Here in Canada I got boned by workers comp. I was a young, minimum wage construction labourer. On a construction job I crushed my right hand. I’m right handed. I get hauled off to the hospital and they put two pints of blood back into me. I’m covered in blood, in pain, and just a mess leaving the hospital, so I take a cab home. Workers comp refused to pay my cab because they said I should have taken a bus. Ultimately they gave me somewhere around $350 Canadian dollars. For crushing my dominant hand. Because I was making so little I couldn’t cover rent or groceries if I wasn’t working. My boss took pity on me, and brought me back on to “sweep floors”. So I spent eight hours a day with my right arm in a sling, holding a broom with my left just so I could have some income. God bless him, **** WCB. That was forty years ago and my hand is still deformed and I refuse to deal with WCB. If they were on fire I would piss beside them.

 

[Ron H]

Here in Canada I got boned by workers comp. I was a young, minimum wage construction labourer. On a construction job I crushed my right hand. I’m right handed. I get hauled off to the hospital and they put two pints of blood back into me. I’m covered in blood, in pain, and just a mess leaving the hospital, so I take a cab home. Workers comp refused to pay my cab because they said I should have taken a bus. Ultimately they gave me somewhere around $350 Canadian dollars. For crushing my dominant hand. Because I was making so little I couldn’t cover rent or groceries if I wasn’t working. My boss took pity on me, and brought me back on to “sweep floors”. So I spent eight hours a day with my right arm in a sling, holding a broom with my left just so I could have some income. God bless him, **** WCB. That was forty years ago and my hand is still deformed and I refuse to deal with WCB. If they were on fire I would piss beside them.

Yeah work comp pays about 67% of wages – indemnity payments. More companies worth a **** have supplemented this loss over the years paying their employee the difference. Used to be a kicker as some companies would pay the employee rather than have WC pay; but that used to be a huge bone of contention with the WC carrier and the state being illegal under the WC laws. Highly regulated system structured to ‘compensate’ an injured worker for permanent or partial disability – basically assigning a price for body parts lost or disfigured. The payout was for chit; but structured for the loss of a finger in whole or part, like to the ‘digit’. Gets more complicated for back injuries or others when an employee is disabled. Doctors are involved (and lawyers) to establish a degree or percentage of disablement. I had helped a few work-injured friends out getting more cash or coverage; but being in the trade so to speak, knew how the game is played.

 

[Sahara]

What angered me with WCB was their attitude. I was visibly damaged, yet they treated me like I was trying to rip them off while I knew of many, including my own brother who ripped them off for years. To expect me to take a bus for two hours and multiple changes across a large city (Edmonton, Alberta) when I couldn’t even reach into my pocket for bus change was unreasonable. My hand was so damaged that they couldn’t even stitch it because it was too shredded up. You could look inside it and see my bones and cartilage, yet I was expected to take a bus home. It wasn’t the lack of money that angered me so much but the lack of compassion and understanding.