Determinants of stimulating investment on occupational safety and health management by using economic incentive tools: A preliminary study

Introduction
According to the experience of the industrially advanced countries, the use of the economic incentive approach has become an important mean of stimulating enterprises to increase investment in the work of occupational injury prevention.

Methods
This study conducted a contingent valuation survey via an on-line constructed questionnaire to measure the stated preference for various incentive schemes among 600 enterprises in the manufacturing, construction, petrochemical and electro-optics industries. The hypothetical scenario in the contingent valuation questions is whether the respondents, which were supervisors of occupational safety and health (OSH) affairs in the enterprises, were willing to participate in a government-authorized accreditation scheme for OSH management systems. Six economic incentive tools were proposed: subsidies, financial grants, tax deductions, lowering of Labor Insurance premiums, low-interest loans and loosening of limitations on overseas investment.

Results
A total of 184 firms completed the questionnaire, giving a response rate of 30.6%. Under the assumption of the logistic regression model, the results showed that firms in both the manufacturing and electro-optics industries firms had a higher willingness to increase OSH investment under the incentive schemes compared with those in the construction industry. For firms with revenues over NT$10 billion, however, none of the incentive schemes was effective. Also, firms in which the respondent was a ranking executive, and which had a relatively high OSH budget, demonstrated a significant association with the effect of the incentive schemes.

Discussion
The results of the study suggest that a comprehensive survey should be conducted to determine the characteristics and needs of firms before offering economic incentive schemes. Small and medium-sized enterprises and those in industries with high occupational injuries rates should be given first priority in offering incentives to stimulate investment on OSH works.