Enhancing corporate compliance with worksite safety and health legislation

Abstract

Introduction: A 2-year prospective study evaluated the effectiveness of a managerial training program to enhance corporate compliance with statewide worksite safety and health regulations. The program offered participants information about regulatory requirements and emphasized organizational and environmental strategies for reducing occupational injuries and illnesses. Objectives: To assess the effects of a train-the-trainer program on business managers' knowledge of statewide occupational safety and health legislation and on levels of corporate compliance with regulatory requirements. Methods: Forty-eight small-and medium-sized companies participated in the training sessions during the first year of the study. These firms were compared with 46 control companies that did not receive the training until the conclusion of the study. Results: Participation in the program was associated with higher levels of corporate regulatory compliance 12 months after the training sessions were held (controlling for baseline levels of corporate compliance with the regulations). Program effects on compliance levels were mediated by posttraining changes in managers' knowledge of regulatory requirements. Conclusions: The REACH OUT training program raised managers' awareness of and corporate compliance with statewide worksite safety and health regulations. Impact on Industry: Smaller companies face greater challenges than larger ones in developing and maintaining worksite safety and health programs. Barriers to regulatory compliance, especially in small-and medium-size companies, should be identified and removed to enhance the efficacy of these programs.

A systematic literature review of the effectiveness of occupational health and safety regulatory enforcement

“…For the latter group, there is “moderate evidence” that awareness campaigns improve compliance (based on three medium quality studies). Among the four studies, one evaluated an eye injury campaign for metal workers in Italy [Mancini et al, ], a second evaluated a noise awareness campaign in Sweden [Bjorkdahl et al, ], a third evaluated a child labor in agriculture campaign in New York [Gadomski et al, ], and a fourth evaluated a train‐the‐trainer program in California [Stokols et al, ].…”

“Danger—men at work”: Management influence on safety

“…Here is some evidence that even limited time devoted to managerial safety training can have an impact. A new study by Stokols, McMahan, Clitheroe, and Wells (2001) examined the effects of a management training 266 FLIN program on safety in 151 small-and medium-sized companies in California (33% were from manufacturing). They found that participation in the training program was associated with higher levels of corporate regulatory compliance in the following 12 months.…”

Systematic literature review on the effects of occupational safety and health (OSH) interventions at the workplace

“…Safety practices to improve machine-related safety were addressed in 1 study (74). A managerial training program to enhance awareness and compliance was studied in California (76). All the training studies favored interventions (see figure 3) with a pooled risk estimate of OR 0.29, 95% CI 0.15-0.56, because there were few studies and different types of interventions the evidence according to GRADE was limited.…”