Businesses are continuously making safety and health changes in the workplace. But when making those changes, successful employers and managers want to be sure that they really work. What were the results? Was the change an improvement? Here are some examples of positive outcomes that employers use:

• reduced employee injury and illness
• increased employee satisfaction
• improved safe work practices
• reduced absenteeism
• reduced workers’ compensation costs or rates
• increased productivity
• improved workplace air quality

Measuring the results of workplace safety and health changes benefits employers and employees because both gain confidence that the change results in a safer workplace. Since most changes occur by trial and error or in stages, information about the effectiveness of each stage is naturally helpful to the process. These changes often result in increased productivity and demonstrate that employee safety and health can be a good investment. Employees must be involved throughout the selection of safety changes and their measurement.

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