Randomized government safety inspections reduce worker injuries with no detectable job loss

Science. 2012 May 18;336(6083):907-11. doi: 10.1126/science.1215191.

Abstract

Controversy surrounds occupational health and safety regulators, with some observers claiming that workplace regulations damage firms' competitiveness and destroy jobs and others arguing that they make workplaces safer at little cost to employers and employees. We analyzed a natural field experiment to examine how workplace safety inspections affected injury rates and other outcomes. We compared 409 randomly inspected establishments in California with 409 matched-control establishments that were eligible, but not chosen, for inspection. Compared with controls, randomly inspected employers experienced a 9.4% decline in injury rates (95% confidence interval = -0.177 to -0.021) and a 26% reduction in injury cost (95% confidence interval = -0.513 to -0.083). We find no evidence that these improvements came at the expense of employment, sales, credit ratings, or firm survival.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Accidents, Occupational / prevention & control*
  • Accidents, Occupational / statistics & numerical data
  • California
  • Commerce*
  • Cost of Illness
  • Costs and Cost Analysis
  • Databases, Factual
  • Employment*
  • Humans
  • Industry* / economics
  • Industry* / statistics & numerical data
  • Matched-Pair Analysis
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Occupational Injuries / economics
  • Occupational Injuries / epidemiology
  • Occupational Injuries / prevention & control*
  • Random Allocation
  • Safety*
  • Salaries and Fringe Benefits
  • United States
  • United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration*
  • Workers' Compensation
  • Workplace