Inspections Increase Safety and Save Money
A recently published study in the journal Science notes that American companies can effectively employ safety procedures without seeing a negative impact when it comes to sales or profits.
According to a report from The Associated Press, the study focused for a decade on hundreds of California employers that had been subject to random safety inspections. Research showed that those employers who were inspected decreased their injury claims by nearly nine and a half percent compared to those businesses that were not inspected.
The same employers on average saw savings of some 26 percent (approximately $355,000 in injury claims and compensation for paid lost work over the next four years) when compared with similar businesses that did not receive visits from inspectors.
Random Inspections Prove Effective
The study was based on an analysis of 409 California single-location businesses in industries, including woodworking and metalworking that had large injury rates and were inspected by that state’s OSHA body from 1996 through 2006. The authors reportedly looked at California because the state’s safety agency conducted some inspections based on random selection, as opposed to just focusing on targets of complaints.
An official with the AFL-CIO labor federation noted the results indicate that OSHA is effective in promoting safe workplaces.
Despite the positive numbers, critics of OSHA have stated that the agency would be better served spending fewer resources toward inspections and applying more attention to voluntary safety programs.
Author Michael B. Stack, CPA, Director of Operations, Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is an expert in employer communication systems and part of the Amaxx team helping companies reduce their workers compensation costs by 20% to 50%. He is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com. Contact: mstack@reduceyourworkerscomp.com.
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