Preventing construction deaths

The role of public policies

Bibliographic Data

ID12899537
AuthorsWayne B Gray (0000-0002-0113-4946), John Mendeloff (0000-0002-8260-3467, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume17
Issue3
Pages726-754
Publication date2022-07-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRegulation & Governance (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1748-5983 • E-ISSN: 1748-5991
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/rego.12486
OpenAlexW4285588693
LanguageEN
References cited39

Are stronger direct financial incentives or regulatory enforcement effective in reducing fatalities in the construction industry? We examine two important policies—state workers' compensation (WC) programs and federal and state Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) activities—which embody those strategies. We examine their impact by looking at state‐level fatality rates in the construction industry from 1992 to 2016. Setting aside highway crashes and violence, the majority of employee deaths occur in construction. We find that states which exempt small firms from the requirement to buy WC insurance have higher fatality rates. When eligibility for compensation is restricted by longer waiting periods, fatality rates are substantially higher. More frequent federal or state OSHA inspections and, especially, consultation visits are associated with lower fatality rates, but higher average penalties are not. Limited variation in these policies over our sample period, especially for WC, makes these results suggestive rather than definitively causal

Actuarial science · Business · Case fatality rate · Compensation (psychology · Demographic economics · Economics · Enforcement · Environmental health · Incentive · Occupational safety and health · Political science · Public economics · State (computer science · Healthcare Policy and Management · Law · Medicine · Occupational Health and Safety Research · Psychology · Traffic and Road Safety · Finance

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