Mandatory workplace safety and health programs : implementation, effectiveness, and benefit-cost trade-offs / Tom LaTourrette, John Mendeloff ; sponsored by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

LaTourrette, Tom, 1963-

Contributor:

Rand Corporation.

Mendeloff, John M.

Series:

Technical report (Rand Corporation)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Occupational health services--Standards--United States.

Occupational health services.

Medical policy--United States.

Medical policy.

Industrial safety--United States.

Industrial safety.

Safety Management--standards.

Accidents, Occupational--prevention & control.

Health Policy.

Occupational Diseases--prevention & control.

Occupational Health Services--standards.

United States. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

United States.

Medical Subjects:

Safety Management--standards.

Accidents, Occupational--prevention & control.

Health Policy.

Occupational Diseases--prevention & control.

Occupational Health Services--standards.

Physical Description:

xv, 31 pages

Place of Publication:

Santa Monica, CA : RAND Corporation, 2008.

Summary:

In 1998, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began work on developing a standard that would have required all workplaces to establish a safety and health program, which uses management tools that address general behaviors and procedures to reduce the risk of occupational injuries and illnesses. Although some states already had such programs in place, OSHA argued that worksites with such programs had lower rates of injury and illness and that a federal standard would extend this benefit to worksites without such programs. By 1999, however, OSHA had abandoned its rulemaking process, partly due to intense criticism of the effectiveness relative to the cost of the proposed standard. Prior studies have attempted to analyze whether, if implemented, the standard would have been effective in its goals and whether the benefit-cost trade-offs would have leaned in favor of one or the other. Unfortunately, these studies have been inconclusive for a variety of reasons. This report takes an objective approach to assessing both the proposed OSHA standard and prior studies of its potential effectiveness, implementation and enforcement, and benefits and costs, concluding with recommendations to guide further analysis should federal or state authorities opt to revisit the rulemaking process for such a standard.

Contents:

Introduction The proposed safety and health program standard Evidence on the effectiveness of safety and health programs in preventing injuries Benefits and costs of the proposed safety and health program rule Recommendations for further analysis