Documents safety incentives 13 results

"The objective of this literature survey was to appraise the methodological quality of economic evaluations of occupational safety and health (OSH) interventions conducted from a corporate perspective published in various OSH databases. A total of 37 articles were selected based on seven criteria addressing study population, type of intervention, comparative intervention, outcome, costs, language, and perspective. Only 44% of the studies met more than 50% of the quality criteria. Of the 19 quality criteria, eight were met by 50% or more of the studies. The overall methodological quality of the economic evaluations of OSH interventions from a corporate perspective was poor. As such, there is a risk of biased results. The quality of future evaluations needs to be improved to increase the validity of their conclusions and recommendations."

"There are a limited number of studies on the cost-effectiveness of occupational health and safety (OSH) interventions. Applying the results of a cost-effectiveness study from one country to another is hampered by institutional differences in national health care and social security systems. In order to find out how these problems can be overcome, this study transferred the results of a Dutch occupational cost-effectiveness study to the Finnish situation and vice-versa. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) were calculated for the target country, allocating costs to employers, employees and taxpayers. It is concluded that results of cost-effectiveness studies can be transferred from one country to another, but many adjustments are needed. An extensive description of the intervention, a detailed list of resource use, allocation of costs to various parties and detailed knowledge of the health care systems in the original studies are necessary to enable calculations."

"This review article discusses various types of incentives for promoting occupational safety and health (OSH) in light of economic theory and evidence from research. Governments can subsidize employers' investments in OSH with subsidies and tax structures. These incentives are successful only if the demand for OSH responds to the change in the price of OSH investments and if the suppliers of OSH are able to increase their production smoothly, failing which the subsidy will only lead to higher prices for OSH goods. Both public and private insurance companies can differentiate insurance premiums according to past claims. There is evidence that this can effectively lower the frequency of claims, but not the severity of cases. Policy implications of these and other findings are discussed."

"This article discusses the factors that influence the transferability of different types of occupational safety and health (OSH) economic incentives from one country to another, based on data collected by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) by means of a survey among EU member states and a literature review of relevant reports, articles and databases. Despite the wide differences in Europe's social security systems, a high degree of similarity was observed between the countries regarding the basic system design criteria. When it comes to insurance incentive schemes, the fundamental difference between countries is whether the workers' compensation scheme is based on a competitive market between private insurance companies or a monopoly structure adopted by 19 of the 27 EU member states. Subsidy systems, tax incentives, and insurance-based incentives are theoretically possible in all EU countries. Implications are discusseed."

"Legal regulations of the work environment are probably regarded as the main tools for promoting prevention at the workplace. Legal regulations are expressed as occupational exposure limits, bans, and taxes. Taxes can be regarded as economic incentives as well, and other economic incentives are insurance systems for employers' and consumers' actions. The latter have been found to have profound effects regarding environmental issues and may also, in the future, be a powerful tool for workplace-related prevention. The research in this area is rather limited, but there are some research results that can be obtained from the area of environmental economics. This paper discusses some examples in which legal regulations, economic incentives, or both have been used. Legal regulations and market-based economic incentives may produce similar results, but the economic cost and political feasibility typically differ. This situation makes the selection and design of instruments an important field for future research."

"Objectives In many European countries, external economic incentives are discussed as a policy instrument to promote occupational safety and health (OSH) in enterprises. This narrative case study review aims to support policy-makers in organizations providing such incentives by supplying information about different incentive schemes and their main characteristics such as effectiveness, efficiency, and feasibility.Methods The focal point and topic centre network of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work were used to collect case studies about incentive schemes aimed at supporting the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases in enterprises. Such incentives are rarely described in the scientific literature. To be considered for this review, studies had to focus on external financial benefits that could be provided as part of an insurance-related incentive or a governmental subsidy scheme. Results In total, 14 cases were included in the review: 6 insurance premium- and 8 subsidy-based schemes. Of these, 13 contained an evaluation of the incentive scheme, of which 7 use quantitative criteria. Three cases provided sufficient data to conduct a cost–benefit analysis. Most qualitative evaluations related to the successful management of the program and the effectiveness of the promoted measures in the workplace. Regarding the latter, quantitative criteria covered accident rates, sick leave, and general improvement in working conditions. The cost-benefit analyses all resulted in a positive payout ratio, ranging from €1.01-4.81 return for every €1 invested.Conclusions Generally, we found economic incentive schemes to be feasible and reasonably effective. However, analysis regarding the efficiency of such schemes is scarce and our evaluation of the cost-benefit analysis had to rely on few cases that, nevertheless, delivered positive results for large samples. Besides this finding, our study also revealed deficits in the quality of evaluations. In order to enable policy-makers to make well-informed decisions about public investments in OSH, better standards for reporting and evaluating incentive schemes are needed."

"This Guide on Economic Incentives Schemes is intended to serve as a practical and user-friendly guide to help incentive providers to create or optimise their own economic incentive schemes. Incentives schemes should not only reward past results of good OSH management (such as low accident numbers), but should also reward specific prevention efforts that aim to reduce future accidents and ill-health. Therefore the expert group suggested the development of compilations of innovative and evidence-based preventive solutions, starting with the three sectors construction, health care and HORECA."

"OBJECTIVES:
This paper describes the reform of the regulations on safety and health in the Netherlands towards a more competitive market and its impact on occupational health services (OHSs) and the health professionals over the period 1994-2005. Aims are to identify the crucial factors that bring about the intended effects (such as lower disability rates) and to evaluate the outcomes from the perspective of the occupational health professional. The paper contributes to the discussion of how the professionals could define and contain their professional identity and credibility in competitive circumstances.
METHODS:
Open interviews were completed with 12 key persons and secondary analyses were made on documents and various monitors.
RESULTS:
The reform changed the OHS safety market fundamentally. OHSs were transformed from medium sized regional units into business organizations mostly operating on a national level. Private insurance companies became key players. Only after the development of an effective social infrastructure, however, intended effects (lower absenteeism and disability) occurred. Occupational health professionals were initially opposed but by redefining their professional domain and identity, they finally succeeded in gaining negotiating power in order to preserve and develop expertise and professional integrity.
CONCLUSIONS:
The effectiveness of the introduction of market incentives depends strongly on their social embeddedness. Health professionals should adapt their strategy to the conditions of the competitive market, in order to preserve a credible and professional identity."