A 2012 study published in Science magazine proved that injuries and costs associated with accidents decreased significantly after OSHA inspected a specific firm. Notably, these decreased costs did not accompany any detectable job loss. Responding to the results of an OSHA inspection does improve upon worker safety, however, being proactive by creating an internal inspection program saves companies on the associated violation costs.
The study was conducted in response to some critics’ fears that OSHA inspections were hazardous to overall worker safety in that they distracted from tasks and that enforced remediation programs did little to help. Previous research on the topic had been inconclusive, reporting varying degrees of change to productivity and overall injury rates.
The researchers in the 2012 study analyzed California state inspection data from randomly-selected high injury locations and workers’ compensation systems. Through this, they were able to tell with 95% certainty that, on average, injury rates decreased by nearly ten percent and associated injury costs decreased by over 1Ž4 of their original value in businesses where OSHA had conducted randomized inspections.
The study also looked at whether or not the inspections impacted businesses’ creditworthiness, but found that correlation between credit score change and the outcome of randomized inspections, if any, was close to zero.
Overall, this goes to show that OSHA inspections improve productivity and job safety, despite others’ studies showing that it might negatively impact these or have zero net change. Other studies had been based on economic theories of perfectly competitive models — those in which workers have full access to relevant information, easy mobility, etc. — but this one was not. The perfectly competitive market model studies had assumed that enforced changes in the workplace from higher regulatory agencies would negatively affect workers, but this study performed on real worker data proved otherwise. Consider implementing safety software to increase inspection efficiency. Safety software gives users the ability to track inspection details, utilize the data to create corrective actions, and prevent future similar safety hazards from occurring. For advice on how to handle an inspection, check out Quantum’s guide on What’s Involved in an OSHA Inspection.
