Knowledge is power, and when it comes to health and safety, knowledge has the power to save lives. For decades, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has required companies to provide health and safety reports for review. Starting February 2017, that information will be made public on OSHA’s website. This comes at little burden to employers as they are providing OSHA data that they already collect. The difference is that this injury information will now be public.

Before applying for a job in a hazardous industry, applicants will be able to check employer safety records, and see at which job sites workers most frequently suffer severe injuries. Employers will be able to compare their safety records against those of the top performers in the industry. Journalists, researchers and worker advocates will have more data at their fingertips. The approach being taken here is based in the lessons of behavioral economics. Employers want to be seen as leaders in safety, and they want to attract and recruit the best workers. By posting employers' injury data on the web, OSHA hopes to “nudge” these employers to prevent injuries from occurring in the first place.

 OSHA has put together a “whiteboard” video that explains the initiative further. Copy and paste the following link into your browser to view: https://www.dol.gov/node/70563