The efficacy of construction site safety inspections

In this article, we measure the impact of on-site safety inspections on the frequency of work-related injury and death in the Alberta construction sector, 1987-92. The data are disaggregated by subindustry allowing different risk levels to be associated with different work activities. In our sample, there is a dramatic decrease in inspection activity which allows us to assess the necessity for continuing with current levels of inspection effort. We find that on-site safety inspections have no effect on the risk of accident and injury but do have a positive effect in reducing the number of work-related fatalities.