An Entreaty to Demonstrate the Business Case

An American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) white paper containing recommendations on a proposed federal Injury and Illness Prevention Program contains some valuable insights on establishing the business case for occupational health and safety interventions.

OSHA Director David Michaels says the prevention program is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s top regulatory priority. In its FY 2011 budget request, the Department of Labor has designated $583 million for OSHA, including $2.4 million for prevention program development.

The AIHA’s recommendations to OSHA are taken in part from its Value Strategy Manual. The manual features findings from a 2008 study of how Fortune 500 companies determine the value of contributions by occupational health and safety professionals, and it presents a solid framework for worker protection.

The AIHA Value Strategy promotes a comprehensive process in which occupational hygienists align risk management with business objectives – similar to what occupational health programs need to do to demonstrate the value of their interventions to client companies and other stakeholders.

The process incorporates the following steps:

1. Identify business objectives and hazards.
2. Evaluate and prioritize value opportunities.
3. Assess risk reduction.
4. Select approach to establish the value proposition.
5. Identify changes and assess impacts.
6. Document and present the value proposition.

In the third critical step, industrial hygienists identify actual or predicted risk reduction(s) associated with the implementation of a program, activity or intervention. The process includes pre- and post-intervention baseline risk assessment.

In a subsequent step, data (cost, performance, quality) are analyzed to determine whether the value proposition is best made using a qualitative or quantitative approach, or a combination of both.

According to the white paper: 

“Ample anecdotal and case study data demonstrate that a systematic approach to OHS management is cost-effective. Many AIHA members and other OHS professionals have demonstrated this in their companies and practice. A large benefit is commonly observed in lower workers’ compensation costs, which in some cases can be significant. Improved productivity and quality are also associated with implementation of these programs.”

Both the white paper and the Value Strategy report reference a number of related studies that are worth checking out. In addition, resources for conducting the risk assessment are contained in an AIHA publication, A Strategy for Assessing and Managing Occupational Exposures, 3rd Edition, and in the American National Standard Institute/American Industrial Hygiene Association Z10-2005, Occupational Health and Safety Management System.

As the AIHA notes: “Imagine what could happen when 12,000 IH experts begin applying this strategy to demonstrate the powerful impact the profession can have on business! We often talk about wanting our profession to be a household name. Now we have the strategy to make that happen. These results are a beginning, not an end.”

Occupational health professionals can learn from this challenge. They must strive to re-affirm their own value proposition in order to best serve clients and patients and have an influential voice in the development of OSHA’s proposed Injury and Illness Prevention Program.