Baltimore Workers’ Compensation Lawyers: Employee Safety
May 18, 2017
In an economy where there is constant pressure to increase productivity and meet or exceed financial expectations, this can compromise the health and safety of employees if it comes at the cost of employers investing too little attention to safe working conditions. According to recent research from the Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas Dallas, companies that prioritize investors over employees run the risk of compromising the health of their employees for the sake of the almighty dollar.
Dr. Naim Bugra Ozel and Dr. Judson Caskey co-authored the study, which was published in The Journal of Accounting and Economics. They analyzed companies that met, or surpassed financial expectations, and they found that these firms had an approximately 12 percent higher injury rate for employees, compared to other firms. According to Ozel, if companies fail to reach the earnings benchmarks, there can be serious implications. When stock goes down and investors are not happy, companies often create incentives for employees to increase productivity. The study found that higher employee output is closely linked to higher rates of injuries from workplace accidents.
Link Between Increased Workload and Employee Injuries
The researchers examined injury data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), as well as companies’ financial data. The found that when companies cut expenditures, and raised the productivity expectations, there was an increase in injury rates. When employees were required to work overtime, or perform more work in less time, they were more likely to ignore safety procedures, thus putting themselves at greater risk of being injured.
According to researchers, the following three factors affected the link between injuries and meeting financial expectations:
- Unionized industries: Unions are prepared to negotiate for strong safety measures, so the relationships tends to be weaker in industries that are highly unionized.
- Firms with large government contracts: The relationships is weaker in these types of firms because the government typically requires a high level of safety standards.
- There is a weak relationship in states that have higher Workers’ Compensation costs.
Overall, based on the sample size in this study, researchers found a 10 to 15 percent increase in employee injuries. One would assume that managers and CEOs would not compromise the well-being of their employees for the sake of investors, but evidence suggests the contrary might be true in some cases.
Baltimore Workers’ Compensation Lawyers at LeViness, Tolzman & Hamilton Protect the Rights of Injured Workers
If you have been injured at work due to increased pressure from your manager to meet earnings expectations, do not hesitate to contact the Baltimore Workers’ Compensation lawyers at LeViness, Tolzman & Hamilton. We will fight to ensure that you receive the maximum benefits that you deserve based on your injuries. To schedule a free, confidential consultation, call us today at 844-556-4LAW (4529) or contact us online.
