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Welcome to the Center for Health and Safety in the Workplace

The mission of the RAND Center for Health and Safety in the Workplace is to conduct research and analysis that helps improve worker health and safety and reduce the economic costs of workplace accidents and illnesses. The Center provides rigorous, objective analysis and a neutral venue in which to convene stakeholders from government, industry, and labor.

Featured Research

The Economics of Integrating Injury and Illness Prevention and Health Promotion Programs

The NIOSH Total Worker Health Program reviewed the scientific evidence for coordinating and integrating worksite health promotion and occupational health and safety programs to promote and protect worker health. RAND contributed a chapter to this effort, focusing on the economics of program integration.

Full Document (cdc.gov)

States with Low Workplace Nonfatal Injury Rates Have High Fatality Rates and Vice Versa

States with low nonfatal injury rates and high fatality rates tend to be in the South, have lower workers' compensation benefits, be less unionized, and pay lower wages—while states with high nonfatal injury rates and lower fatality rates tend to be in the West, pay higher benefits and wages, be more strongly unionized, and carry out more workplace inspections.

Current Research Projects

Examining the Safety Impacts of Experience Rating in Workers' Compensation

The original purpose of experience modification rating in workers' compensation was to address insurer underwriting concerns; researchers are now exploring whether the rating also operates as an effective safety incentive for businesses.

Evaluating Disability Ratings and Workers' Compensation Medical Treatment in California

Evaluating California's disability ratings and worker outcomes can help to assess the accuracy and consistency of these ratings, identify potential practices and policies that would improve both the quality and the efficiency of the medical care provided under the California workers' compensation system, and increase the efficiency of the medical benefit administration.

More Research Projects

Recent Publications

Are There Unusually Effective Occupational Safety and Health Inspectors and Inspection Practices? — March 5, 2012

Examines the role of inspector style in influencing the effectiveness of inspections in reducing injury rates.

Full Document

Medical Care Provided Under California's Workers' Compensation Program: Effects of the Reforms and Additional Opportunities to Improve the Quality and Efficiency of Care — August 22, 2011

This book examines changes to California's workers' compensation affecting medical care provided to injured workers and identifies areas in which more changes could improve quality and efficiency of care.

Full Document

RAND/UCLA Quality-of-Care Measures for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Tools for Assessing Quality of Care and Appropriateness of Surgery — August 16, 2011

Offers two rigorously developed tools for assessing the quality of care received by patients with carpal tunnel syndrome and for determining whether surgery is necessary for individual patients.