WHY THE GOVERNMENT LIKES TO ISSUE PRESS RELEASES AND BIG FINES

An on-going study of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has explained the obvious of why government agencies like to issue press releases and big fines. According to the preliminary results of the study, when a press release highlighting the fines from an inspection is issued, there is about a fifty percent (50%) reduction in the number of violations found at subsequent inspections or similar businesses in the area. It has long been known that federal agencies like to bring "big" cases and publicize the results so that compliance is encouraged. OSHA currently has a policy of sending out a press release if the proposed fine is at least $40,000. This OSHA report has not yet been issued, but a working paper explaining the research is available at http://op.bna.com/env.nsf/r?Open=rdae-9khtm6.