Estimating the Cost of Industrial Accidents at Titaa Mining Ltd., Jakpong

Accidents are generally costly no matter where they occur. In mining, paying meticulous attention to health and safety saves lives, properties and increases profit. This paper assesses the types of accident costs at Titaa Mining Ltd., Jakpong, estimates how much the company lost in terms of gold production as a result of workplace accidents from 2002 to 2004 using data collected from the mine and other referral hospitals. The results show that the uninsured cost was about 60% of the damage cost while 20% of the departments contributed more than 80% of the total accident cost. The total accident costs accounted for about 53.26 kg of gold lost from 2002 to 2004. It is recommended that more resources be devoted to the hazardous departments to help reduce accident costs and that management should introduce incentive schemes to reward zero disabling accidents.