Are Osha Health Inspections Effective? A Longitudinal Study in the Manufacturing Sector
利用1972-1983年制造业工厂数据，发现OSHA健康检查能减少违规数量和工人暴露限制违规，首次检查效果最强，表明此前研究低估了OSHA对降低工作场所风险的贡献。
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.