. Work related injuries and illnesses have risen to their highest level in ten years. Recent Department of Labor statistics indicate that a total of 6.8 million cases were reported in 1992 at a rate of 8.9 cases per 100 full time workers. The financial cost of occupational injuries are in $60 billion range and include such things as medical expenses, insurance costs, legal fees, and lost productivity. These data provide compelling evidence that work-related injuries and illnesses and the associated costs are a massive economic and social problem. Interestingly, the incidence of injury is highest among small employers whose survival is most threatened by the high cost of worker's compensation. Ironically, smaller businesses may have the highest accident incidence rate because, in part, they are least able to afford to integrate effective safety technologies into their operations. These investigators have developed and piloted a comprehensive occupational safety training program (COST) targeted for small businesses that typically have serious safety problems. The COST program is a behaviorally based training procedure that guides company safety personnel through a systematic process of analyzing existent safety management and developing a comprehensive strategy to control hazards and establish work safety habits. To date, the 48 companies that have completed this prototype program have realized a significant reduction in rate of job related accidents and injuries. In the current application, these investigators propose to further analyze the results of this program and refine the program materials. The ultimate goal of the proposed project is twofold: 1) is to make available to small employers a commercially viable and tested behaviorally-based training program that can have an immediate and significant impact on work related injuries/illnesses and their associated costs, 2) prepare for a large scale randomized trial do be conducted in Phase II research.
