Relationship between Investment Costs for Occupational Health and Safety with Accident Rates and Occupational Accident Costs : Importance of Allocating Resources to OHS Expenditures in Operational Budget

Research shows that spending on occupational health and safety (OHS) should be considered as an investment, rather than as a cost. Investments made to prevent occupational accidents and occupational diseases make it possible for firms to gain competitive advantage by decreasing accident rates and occupational accident costs. This research, which is conducted on the companies operating in the manufacturing sector in Turkey has been made for two purposes. The first is whether there is a decrease in accident rates and occupational accident costs depending on the OHS investment expenditures made in order to meet the legal requirements and the second is that whether allocating resources to the operating budget for OHS investment spending is an advantage in decreasing accident rates and occupational accident costs. Survey method was used as data collection tool. Data were collected from 229 manufacturing companies with different sizes and NACE codes in Turkey between February and August o...