In many industries, such as construction, transportation, warehousing and health care, the workplace is dangerous. In 2018 alone, 5,250 workers died on the job.
In an effort to protect workers from death or injury, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration – better known as OSHA – in 1970.
OSHA inspections successfully improve workers’ physical safety. A 2012 randomized study found that OSHA inspections reduced the number of injuries leading to workers’ compensation claims by around 9% and lowered the medical expenses and wage replacement paid from those claims by 26%.
But the number of federal OSHA inspectors fell to a low of 875 in 2019, compared with a high of 1,469 in 1980.
The drop in inspectors coincided with an expansion of workplaces to protect, from 4.5 million in 1980 to more than 8.1 million today. That means that there were 3,063 workplaces for each OSHA inspector in 1980, compared with 9,286 today, more than a 200% increase.
Overburdening inspectors reduces OSHA’s ability to find and remediate workplace safety violations, such as inadequate protections against slips and falls, a major cause of workplace injuries and fatalities.
It also reduces the incentives created by deterrence. When businesses know they’re not likely to be inspected, they are less likely to devote resources to create safe workplaces.
David Weil is the dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Distributed by The Associated Press.