VRSTE TROŠKOVA ZAŠTITE ZDRAVLJA I SIGURNOSTI NA RADU.

Although many business entities perceive health and safety at work as an important factor of their social responsibility, when it comes to financial investments in this aspect of business the prevailing opinion is that these investments do not offer adequate financial returns. This leads to ignoring the issues of health and safety at work and to minimal investing prescribed by law. Only by monitoring the costs incurred as a result of accidents at work and related injuries, business downtime, court costs, compensations, fines, etc., do business entities recognize the financial interest in investing in the prevention of their occurrence. A distinction should be made between costs incurred as a result of accidents at work and occupational diseases (i.e. corrective costs), and preventive costs incurred in order to achieve both social and financial benefits. These two cost groups are the subject of this paper. The main goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the preventive and corrective costs of health and safety at work and, consequently, to set foundation for a discussion on the financial benefits from investment in that aspect of business. The paper also presents a business model for the protection of workers’ health and safety at work, which, in addition to listing various types of costs, also takes into account the benefits of such investments. The chief conclusion of the research is that all aspects of the protection of health and safety of workers, including the financial and accounting, should be addressed in socially responsible businesses. This specifically means incorporating occupational health and safety costs into the business entity’s financial plans, which will facilitate their monitoring, analysis and interpretation, and also provide reliable support to managers in deciding on investments in health and safety of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]