ABSTRACT
The safety regulations involve detailed descriptions of personal protective equipment, protective equipment for machines and facilities, and training requirements. One measure of regulatory success is the cost-effectiveness of the program-for safety regulations, the cost per avoided injury or illness or fatality. Assembling a single index of the cost of worker injury would focus the attention of companies, unions, and regulations and would provide better information to industrial and consumer purchasers. A concern for cost via workers’ compensation and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines has led almost all companies to improve their safety performance by internalizing the cost of hazards. data are aggregated by Standard Industrial Classification code and published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Individual companies and facilities report the data to OSHA; they include such information as the type of injury or illness that occurred, the cause of the incident, and the resulting work restrictions on the injured or ill employee.
