Evaluating Occupational Safety Costs and Policy in an Input-Output Framework

Improving occupational safety has been a significant policy goal in state-enacted workers' compensation laws throughout this century. By 1965, the U.S. Congress judged state regulation to be insufficient to protect workers and so created the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The annual OSHA budget for the 1980s and 1990s averaged around $300 million. During that time, the number of workplace inspections per year ranged from almost 50,000 in 1988 to around 30,000 in 1998. To alleviate hazards in specific facilities, and thus reduce the need for inspections, the budget for compliance assistance rose from about $12 million before 1996 to more than $40 million in 1998.