EU-OSHA research suggests that economic incentive schemes encouraging companies
to invest in risk prevention are a cost-effective option for governments
looking to cut the numbers of work-related accidents and illnesses. Find out
how economic incentives work in different European countries, and what makes
the best ones so effective.

The European Union strategy 2007-12 on occupational safety and health (OSH)
recognises that there is a need to use economic incentives to motivate
enterprises to apply good practice in their prevention work. The European
Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) contributes to meeting this need
by providing information on the types of economic incentives that are most
likely to succeed. Research has shown that external economic incentives can
motivate further investments in prevention in all organisations and thus lead
to lower accident rates. The primary target audience are organisations that can
provide economic incentives to improve OSH, such as insurance companies, social
partners or governmental institutions. These organisations are regarded as
important intermediaries to stimulate further efforts in OSH in their
cooperating enterprises, e.g. as clients of insurances. Therefore a network of
such organisations has been established in form of an expert group, which
supports the project with advice and helps to promote the results.

More information:

AplusA-online.de - Source: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work