TY  - JOUR
AU  - Gray,Wayne B.
AU  - Jones,Carol Adaire
TI  - Are OSHA Health Inspections Effective?  A Longitudinal Study in the Manufacturing Sector
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 3233
PY  - 1990
Y2  - January 1990
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3233
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3233.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Wayne B. Gray
Department of Economics
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610
Tel: 508/793-7693
Fax: 508/793-8849
E-Mail: WGRAY@CLARKU.EDU
AB  - We examine the impact of OSHA health inspections on compliance with agency regulations in the manufacturing sector, with a unique plant-level dataset of inspection and compliance behavior during 1972-1983, the first twelve years of OSHA enforcement operations. Two major findings are robust across the range of linear and count models estimated in the paper: (1) the number of citations and the number of violations of worker exposure restrictions decrease with additional health inspections in manufacturing plants; and (2) the first health inspection has the strongest impact. The results suggest that prior research focusing on the limited impact of OSHA safety regulations may under-estimate OSHA's total contribution to reducing workplace risks.
ER  -