蘑菇TV

Introduction

For many in business, occupational safety and health programs are seen merely as an obligation or a necessary evil. This is unfortunate. For the last three decades, I have worked in this field in both a direct support role and as a consultant to mostly small and medium-sized businesses. I have found that those who will embrace the safety and health function fully can see additional benefits for their organizations. In this article, we will discuss some of these benefits to an organization and why business owners and managers should understand the importance of safety and health in the workplace.

Compliance and Liability Issues for Businesses

One of the main reasons an organization should implement safety and health programs is that it is mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations. OSHA was put in place in 1970 in response to several high-profile safety and health incidents in the United States that really began in 1911 with the Triangle Shirtwaist fire that killed 146 workers (OSHA, 2025). Most of these were women and children. The inability of owners and managers to regulate safety and health efforts within their organizations was one of the main reasons OSHA was put in place to protect American workers.

OSHA has developed and implemented numerous safety and health standards with which companies must comply. Failure to comply can lead to substantial penalties, injuries, or even fatalities. These fines can be as much as $16,550 per serious hazard and carry a maximum of $165,515 for willful or repeat hazards (Gilmore, 2025). These fines can be stacked to yield very large penalties. Dollar General has been fined over $15 million since 2017 for non-compliance issues in their individual stores. They agreed to settle for $12 million in July of 2024 and agreed to resolve the issues in their stores (OSHA, 2024). Fines like these can severely impact the bottom line of a company.

OSHA penalties are just one way the lack of good safety and health programs can negatively impact a business. If workers are injured or killed due to accidents in the workplace, there could be additional financial liabilities for an organization. These could range from workers鈥� compensation claims or settlements to wrongful death lawsuits. Injuries alone can average $44,179 per claim according to the National Council on Compensation Insurance (National Safety Council [NSC], 2025). In cases involving chemical releases, explosions, etc., there could be multiple people involved, both in the company and in the surrounding community. These events can be very expensive in fines, work stoppages/interruptions, and injuries or fatalities. One company I worked with had a fire related to a dust explosion that shut the facility down for about a month and cost them about $1 million in lost production. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but this was a substantial loss. These larger events can also lead to negative perceptions of your company by the general public, which can have a negative financial impact on your company.

How Safe Workplaces Impact Businesses

Compliance is just the tip of the iceberg for companies. The OSHA regulations are more foundational in nature, and many will aspire to best practice, which exceeds the regulations in most respects. In addition to publishing regulations and ensuring compliance, OSHA provides guidance and information for companies that want to go above and beyond. One of the pages on their site specifically addresses the business case for safety. In this section, I will summarize some key insights from this page and others.

One of the most significant ways companies can save money through safety and health management is to reduce injury and illness costs. These costs are not a small item on the balance sheet. They can be substantial. CalOSHA indicated that there were average savings of about $355,000 in workers鈥� compensation costs for those companies they had inspected, without negatively impacting these same companies in other parts of the business (Levine, Toffel, & Johnson, 2012). Liberty Mutual (2021) indicated that serious workplace injuries cost U.S. companies more than $1 billion each week in workers鈥� compensation. One company I worked for had its insurance premiums reduced just because I was on site, taking care of the safety and health functions for the company. The savings were equal to my salary at the time. Injuries and illnesses cost companies a lot, and putting safety and health programs in place can have a considerable impact.

Implementing safety and health programs is not just about preventing injuries. It is just good business. Over the years, I have observed that companies with excellent safety and health programs were also performing better financially. Some have indicated that these kinds of companies have reduced turnover and higher productivity. Others have indicated that safer companies are more desirable to potential employees, which makes sense. In a climate where it is difficult to find good employees, this can be a tremendous competitive advantage. Still others have indicated that every $1 spent on safety and health returns $2 or more for companies (Liberty Mutual, 2005). Doing the right thing can have positive impacts on one鈥檚 business beyond just injury prevention. Safety can actually be a performance driver, as indicated by Mittal, Piazza, and Singh (2024).

Protecting Workers in Your Workplaces

While much of what I have said is true, one of the main reasons people get involved with safety and health efforts is due to accidents and injuries in the workplace. We would hope that employees will go home each day just like they left for work. Sadly, this is not the case. Companies have not learned from past accidents like the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, and employees are still hurt or killed each year. While I was in school in the early 1990s, we learned about a similar accident that had just happened in a chicken processing plant in North Carolina (Diamond, 2017). Doors were locked from the outside, and a machine that had some known safety problems caught on fire and killed 25 workers and injured 40 more in the process. This event impacted my career and how I approach my work in safety and health, even to this day. This was a completely avoidable tragedy. As business owners and decision makers, we need to be better than this.

In business classes at Freed-Hardeman, we often discuss concepts like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Triple Bottom Line. These concepts are more big picture and look beyond just the pure financial aspects of a business. They include taking care of the environment, employees, and the community. If companies are truly focused on these issues, why are there still so many people hurt or killed each year? The National Safety Council (2025) estimated, based on 2022 data, that there are over 4 million workplace injuries each year that require medical attention and cost companies over $167 billion in overall costs. This does not seem like companies are generally embracing the ideas of this part of CSR and the Triple Bottom Line. It has to be more than just a slogan or something trendy. It needs to be part of our core values as organizations.

We are called to be different as Christians in the workplace. Jesus did not promise us an easier life because we follow him. He said it would be harder. Being a Christian should be reflected in our daily lives and our businesses. In the Regulatory Management class here at Freed-Hardeman, we teach students about the various regulations from OSHA and others that they must comply with. However, I strive to teach them more. The class has a theme scripture this semester. I chose 鈥淪o in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets鈥� Matt. 7:12. This scripture is about how we should treat others. None of us wants to be injured or possibly killed because of where we choose to work. If this is so, then why would we create an environment where injuries are acceptable by our decisions or lack of action? We can be better in our companies as Christians, and these are some of the lessons I am trying to instill in our management students beyond just compliance. No one said this would be easy, but doing the right thing seldom is.

Conclusion

Even though the goal of any business is to make money or hopefully not lose money, I think it should be and can be more than that. One of my former bosses reminded me of that while working with him one summer. I was there when he set his prices for the season so that he could make a modest profit while making sure to take care of his employees first, and at the same time not overcharge his customers. He was a Christian businessman who saw the bigger picture and tried to treat his employees as he would like to be treated, as well as his customers. Companies that focus on the safety and health of their employees as part of their business will not only do what is right but will reap additional benefits now and in the future. It is not easy, but it is the right thing to do as Christian business owners and managers.

References

Diamond, A. (2017). The deadly 1991 Hamlet fire exposed the high cost of 鈥渃heap鈥�, Smithsonian Magazine. ..

Gilmore, E. 聽(2025). 聽2025 annual adjustments to osha civil penalties. OSHA. .

National Safety Council (2025). Injury facts. National Safety Council. .

National Safety Council (2025). Workers鈥� compensation costs, National Safety Council. .

Levine, D., Toffel, M., and Johnson, M. (2012). Randomized government safety inspections reduce worker injuries with no detectable job loss, Science, 336 (6083), 907-911.

Liberty Mutual (2005). Chief Financial Officer Survey, Liberty Mutual.

Liberty Mutual (2021). 2021 Liberty Mutual Safety Index, Liberty Mutual.

Mittal, V., Piazza, A. and Singh, S. (2024). Safety should be a performance driver, Harvard Business Review, September-October 2024.

OSHA (2024). Department of Labor announces settlement with Dollar General requiring corporate-wide safety investments in stores nationwide, OSHA. .

OSHA (2025). The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. OSHA. .