GAO Issues Report on Prevalence of Workplace Policies that May Discourage Injury and Illness Reporting
WASHINGTON – Workplace safety incentive programs and other policies in a majority of manufacturing worksites covering millions of workers have elements that may discourage the reporting of workplace related injuries and illnesses, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released today.
GAO recommended that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issue new guidance to assist inspectors in identifying which safety incentives programs are effective. GAO also recommended that OSHA expand guidance in the agency’s cooperative programs, such as the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program, to discourage the use of certain policies that can lead to underreporting for participants.
“[S]ome workplace safety policies, such as those that punish workers in some way for reporting injuries or illnesses, may discourage workers from reporting injuries and illnesses, especially when implemented in a workplace with a negative safety culture,” GAO concluded. “Potential underreporting of injuries and illnesses is even greater when an incentive creates peer pressure on workers not to report injuries. For example, when all workers on a team get a reward only if no one on the team has an injury, there may be pressure on all members of the team not to report injuries.”
Accurate reporting of injuries or illnesses sustained at the jobsite is important not only to the health and safety of workers, but because it also assists OSHA in targeting limited agency resources to dangerous workplaces and industries. However, workers may not report a work-related injury or illness because they fear job loss or other disciplinary action, or fear jeopardizing rewards, such as pay bonuses, based on having low injury and illness rates. Likewise, employers may not record injuries or illnesses because they are afraid of increasing their workers’ compensation costs or jeopardizing their chances of winning contract bids for new work.
In this report, GAO found that a majority of workplaces they surveyed have some kind of safety incentive program, in conjunction with other policies, which may discourage workers from reporting injuries to their superiors:
- 22 percent of manufacturers have safety incentive programs that provide bonuses or other rewards for having a low injury or illness rate;
- 56 percent had mandatory post-accident alcohol or drug testing;
- 69 percent had demerit systems (warnings, demotions or terminations) for workers who engage in unsafe practices that lead to injuries.
“Without accurate data, employers engaged in hazardous activities can avoid inspections and may be allowed to participate in voluntary programs that reward employers with exemplary safety and health management,” GAO wrote.
Only 14 percent of employers GAO surveyed encouraged the reporting of instances of workplace injury and illness through safety management programs, such as creating incentives to identify hazards, and participating in training and investigations of accidents or near misses.
Members of Congress in both the House of Representatives (H.R. 190) and the Senate (S. 1166) have introduced the Protecting America’s Workers Act that would, among other provisions, improve the accuracy of injury and illness reporting by directing OSHA to address workplace programs and policies that “have the effect of discouraging accurate recordkeeping and the reporting of work-related injuries and illnesses by any employee.”
The GAO report was requested by coauthors of this legislation: Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) the senior Democrat on the House Workforce Protections Subcommittee; and Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the chairwoman of the Senate Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee.
Next Article