Safety work is today recognized as an economic necessity.

– Robert W. Campbell, first preside of the National Safety Council

Many in the occupational safety field has heard the motto, “$afety Pays” – many are familiar of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) “$afety Pays” program. The program is intended to raise awareness on the impact of injuries and illness on a company’s bottom line.

A dash of statistics showing safety saves money; a pinch of studies supporting the notion that safety helps increase productivity and morale; and a sprinkle of best management practices and company testimonials. Easy enough, right?

As a new Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) professional, I have found that making a business case for safety is not as easy as following a recipe. There are still companies today that are unable to see the benefits of investing in safety. A management team member has even told me that they would rather pay the fine and proceeded to ask me to provide an estimate.

I hope that by reviewing publicly available citation and notification of penalty documents, summarizing the violations observed, and what standard it is cited under — I can better identify hazards in my own workplace and build a better business case for safety by outlining potential profit losses.

My goal is to make to build a knowledge repository. I hope that anyone that stumbles onto this may find it useful as well.