March 16, 2015
Two new reports suggest that changes in state workers’ comp laws could be having an unintended consequence: an increase in occupational injuries. Is the mantra “safety saves money” behind all this?
OSHA issued one report; the other is a collaboration between ProPublica and National Public Radio.
Their content is very similar. OSHA concentrates on the economic impact to families when one member is seriously injured on the job. Injuries lead to income inequality, according to the agency.
ProPublica focuses on how changes in state workers’ comp laws are reducing or denying benefits to injured workers and shifting the cost of their medical treatment onto taxpayers.
But one of the conclusions in the OSHA paper will get the attention of anyone dealing with workplace safety: The financial incentive of lower workers’ comp costs that encourages high-hazard employers to invest in injury prevention, has been lessened or eliminated.
The ProPublica report lays out how this is happening.
Responding to employer concerns about the rising cost of workers’ comp insurance, at least 33 states have changed their comp laws. This started around 1990 but continues to the present.
Some examples from ProPublica:
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