Inspections, fines create safer workplaces, according to researchers

September 16th, 2016 by Dakota Software Staff Industry News

There's no doubt the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory bodies with the power to fine businesses believe in the efficacy of those penalties. Recently, the Toronto-based nonprofit Institute for Work and Health reviewed numerous, previously conducted studies and found a meaningful connection between the use of fines and positive health and safety outcomes, according to Safety + Health magazine. The group of researchers found inspections tied to financial penalties create positive changes that benefit employee workplace safety concerns.

A thorough review of existing data
The aim of the work, which initially considered about 12,000 citations from more than a dozen literary databases and ultimately reviewed 43 studies decided by the IWH to be of appropriate quality, was to determine if policy tools like inspections and fines had an observable impact. The IWH wanted to determine if such measures created incentives for workplaces to improve their health and safety efforts or if the systems used encouraged other behavior. The researchers said the conclusion of their work found a high level of evidence supporting the effectiveness of fines and inspections, with better outcomes in terms of both preventing workplace injuries and enhancing compliance with workplace regulations realized.

It's important to note the improvements created through inspections and fines are only reliably present when both mechanisms are utilized, a fact highlighted by OHS Canada. The difference is something regulatory agencies may take into consideration as they develop compliance initiatives going forward.

"One of the key takeaways from the paper is that when a labor inspector imposes an order on a workplace, the result of that is that the workplace is safer afterwards," said Dr. Cam Mustard, IWH president in a press release, according to OHS Canada. "If a labor inspector visits a workplace and doesn't write an order, it doesn't seem like that has an impact."

The study also reached the determination that specific deterrence - the knowledge of pending inspections coupled with the possibility of fines - is effective, while general deterrence - the knowledge of a possibility of an inspection eventually occurring - isn't. Mustard said regulatory agencies that lack the ability to regularly inspect all facilities under their purview could make efforts to raise awareness of the penalties associated with noncompliance and publicize the stories of offenders to compensate.