Safety inspections don't hurt businesses-study
Source: Reuters
Safety inspections don't hurt businesses-study
By Scott Malone
BOSTON | Thu May 17, 2012 2:29pm EDT
(Reuters) - Random inspections of U.S. industrial workplaces lower the risk of workers being injured on the job and have no measurable negative effect on the companies inspected, according to a study in the journal Science.
Companies chosen for random inspections by California's Occupational Safety and Health Administration recorded 9.4 percent fewer worker injuries than those that were not inspected, the study found.
The study, to be published on Friday, also found that the companies inspected were no more likely to cut jobs, lose sales, have their credit ratings cut or go out of business than those that were not inspected.
Over its four-decade history, the federal OSHA has come under fire from both organized labor, which worries that it does not do enough to protect workers, and from big business, which argues that it imposes unnecessary costs.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/17/us-usa-manufacturing-osha-idUSBRE84G13I20120517
