What is Severity Rate and Why Should You Care?
Have you ever wondered how to gauge the seriousness of workplace injuries? That's where the Severity Rate comes into play! It's a safety metric that quantifies the severity of injuries based on the number of workdays lost due to workplace accidents compared to the total hours worked.
So, why should you care? Imagine you are a business owner. You want to ensure a safe working environment. Understanding the Severity Rate can help you identify safety issues, reduce downtime, boost employee morale, and lower costs associated with workplace accidents.
How to Calculate Severity Rate
The formula is straightforward:
[\text{Severity Rate (SR)} = \frac{\text{Number of Work Days Lost} \times 200,000}{\text{Employee Total Hours Worked}}]
Where:
- Number of Work Days Lost is the total number of days employees couldn't work due to accidents
- Employee Total Hours Worked is the aggregate number of hours worked by all employees
- The factor 200,000 represents 100 employees working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year
Calculation Example
Example Problem #1:
Suppose you're managing a company that recently had a few accidents. Over the year, there were 8 workdays lost, and the total number of hours worked by employees tallied up to 600,000.
[\text{SR} = \frac{8 \times 200,000}{600,000} = \frac{1,600,000}{600,000} = 2.67]
The severity rate is 2.67.
Example Problem #2:
Imagine a different situation where there were 40 workdays lost due to accidents, but the total employee hours worked are 2,000,000.
[\text{SR} = \frac{40 \times 200,000}{2,000,000} = \frac{8,000,000}{2,000,000} = 4]
This time, the severity rate is 4, indicating more severe injuries.