OSHA White Paper Discusses Benefits of Adopting Injury and Illness Prevention Programs

The adoption of injury and illness prevention programs can help millions of U.S. businesses improve their compliance with existing laws and regulations, decrease the incidence of workplace injuries and illnesses, reduce costs, and enhance their overall business operations, concludes a January 2012 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) white paper Injury and Illness Prevention Programs. According to the white paper, employers who adopt injury and illness prevention programs not only experience dramatic decreases in workplace injuries, but often report a transformed workplace culture that can lead to higher productivity and quality, decreased turnover, reduced costs, and greater employee satisfaction. OSHA examined the injury and illness prevention programs in eight states where the state had either required a program or provided incentives through its workers’ compensation programs and found that these state programs were able to lower injury and illness incidences by 9% to more than 60%.