title: What kinds of injuries do OSHA inspections prevent?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  OSHA's enforcement program is one of the major public efforts to protect American workers. We examine both the scope of injury prevention that inspections can contribute and the types of standards that contribute the most.
  
  
  METHODS
  We linked Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry files for lost-time injuries and employment to calculate injury rates for 1998-2005 for all single-establishment manufacturing firms. We linked these to OSHA inspection records.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Inspections with penalties did affect injury types unrelated to standards as well as those related. We also found again that citations for violations of the standard requiring personal protective equipment had the largest impact on preventing injuries.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Programs requiring protective equipment use deserve added attention from consultants and inspectors. In addition, some inspections spur managers to undertake safety measures that go beyond compliance with standards.
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, 4570 Fifth Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
authors.forename: Amelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haviland
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: Teague
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ruder
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mendeloff
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010414:Pennsylvania / Q000453:epidemiology; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014489:United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration; D014942:Workers' Compensation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data