OSHA Small Business Assistance:

     February 25, 2006

Safety and Health Add Value To Your Small Business

    SAFETY PAYS

• Effective management and implementation of workplace safety and health programs add significant value to individuals and companies by reducing the extent, severity and consequences of work-related injury and illness.

• Workplaces that establish safety and health management systems reduce their injury and illness costs by 20 to 40 percent.
  
  
• Businesses spend $171 billion a year on costs associated with occupational injuries and illness, expenditures that come straight out of company profits and can comprise as much as 5 percent of a company’s total costs. Preventing injuries and illnesses decreases workers compensation and retraining costs, absenteeism and faulty product.
  
  
• Preventing injuries and illnesses increases productivity, morale and ultimately, profits.
  
  
• OSHA has been helping employers and employees save lives, prevent injuries and protect the health of America’s workforce for more than 30 years. Since 1970, occupational fatalities have been cut in half, and on-the-job injuries and illnesses have been reduced by 40 percent.
  
  
  
• OSHA reaches out to small business employers through extensive outreach, education and compliance assistance efforts, focusing on finding solutions, not just identifying problems. OSHA's Consultation Service is a free, confidential on-site service that an employer can choose to use to add value to his or her small business.
  
  
• Safety and health add value - to your business; to your workplace; to your life.

OSHA's Office of Small Business Assistance