Safety cost management in construction companies: A proposal classification.
BACKGROUND
Estimating health and safety costs in the construction industry presents various difficulties, including the complexity of cost allocation, the inadequacy of data available to managers and the absence of an accounting model designed specifically for safety cost management. Very often, the costs arising from accidents in the workplace are not fully identifiable due to the hidden costs involved.


OBJECTIVE
This paper reviews some studies of occupational health and safety cost management and proposes a means of classifying these costs.


METHODS
We conducted an empirical study in which the health and safety costs of 40 construction worksites are estimated.


RESULTS
A new classification of the health and safety cost and its categories is proposed: Safety and non-safety costs.


CONCLUSIONS
The costs of the company's health and safety policy should be included in the information provided by the accounting system, as a starting point for analysis and control. From this perspective, a classification of health and safety costs and its categories is put forward.
Department of Construction Engineering and Engineering Projects, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
M
M
López-Alonso
Department of Accounting and Finance, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
M P
MP
Ibarrondo-Dávila
Department of Construction Engineering and Engineering Projects, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
M C
MC
Rubio
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000191:economics*; D060389:Construction Industry / Q000191:economics*; D003361:Cost Allocation; D003363:Cost Control; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000145:classification*; D006801:Humans; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000191:economics; D012449:Safety / Q000191:economics*
Occupational risk; accounting 
analysis; construction industry; prevention management