Government incentives to promote improvement of occupational health and safety: searching for alternatives and possibilities

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Regulation and inspection have been the main government instruments to promote the improvement of occupational health and safety (OHS). In this study it is argued that the combination of these instruments with governmental incentives is likely to be more effective in improving the OHS. The research question addressed was: "Which governmental incentives, if implemented, would be most promising to influence senior managers to promote the improvement of OHS?" Methodology. To search for answers to this question, we have interviewed senior managers of five companies, representing eleven bulk liquid terminals operating in Brazil. A forty-three-item questionnaire was used to collect data on six types of incentives: flexibility on premium rates for occupational accident insurance, flexibility on the frequency of programmed OHS inspections of the environment and working conditions, public recognition of OHS, negative publici-ty on OHS, comparison of OHS performance among companies in the same business sector, and establishing OHS requirements for public bids. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The six type of incentives studied have the potential to influence the decisions of the interviewees, except for the incentive of establishing OHS requirements for public bids, because these companies do not have commercial relationships with the Brazilian government. Two incentives were observed as having a higher promising potential to promote improvement of OHS performance: flexibility on insurance premium rates and flexibility on the frequency of programmed inspections.