The role of regulations in the prevention of occupational injury

Abstract To measure the impact of safety regulations on the occurrence of occupational injury, an investigation was made of 98 worksites where severe or moderately severe injuries had recently been reported, and, where possible, of matching worksites where a similar accident had not occurred, at least for a period of 2 years. 53 of the 98 injuries were considered to be attributable to a violation of a regulation. Matching worksites were obtained for 43 of these 53 cases, and of these 30 (70 ± 14%) were found to be in compliance with the regulation violated at the corresponding accident site. On the basis of this figure it is estimated that failure of compliance with regulations would result in a 2.24-fold increase in the injury rate. Interviews with management at the complying worksites suggested that compliance was more often related to a conscious effort to comply with regulations than a fortuitous outcome of what appeared to be sound engineering practice or “common sense”. Compliance was significantly associated with management awareness of regulatory requirements, but not with possession of a copy of the relevant regulations. Compliance was significantly associated with training of management in safety, and with observance of a priori determined principles of good safety management. Of the 98 injuries investigated, 48 were considered to be amenable to regulatory control. Investigation of all non-accident worksites studied ( n = 78), yielded practical information in 25 on means of reducing the risk of the injury which had occurred at the corresponding accident site. It is concluded that regulations have a substantial relevance to occupational injury in that (i) the injury rate would be at least halved if all regulations were complied with; (ii) there was nevertheless a substantial rate of compliance with regulations, without which the rate of severe injuries may be more than doubled; (iii) substantial benefit may be gained from increasing the ambit of regulations; and (iv) management training and good management practices are most likely to prevent those injuries which are associated with violation of regulations. It is also recommended that accident investigations should include inspection of comparable worksites, not only to detect similar risk factors to those responsible for accidents, but to identify control measures developed by other companies.