February 26, 2024
Article
Regulatory Review

Making Workplaces Safer Through Machine Learning

By: Matthew S. Johnson, David I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel

Format:Electronic

Abstract

Machine learning algorithms can dramatically improve regulatory effectiveness. This short article describes the authors' scholarly work that shows how the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) could have reduced nearly twice as many occupational injuries by targeting inspections to workplaces most responsive to inspections or to workplaces with the highest expected injury levels. Either approach would have created hundreds of millions of dollars in social value over the decade we examine.

Keywords

Government Experimentation; Auditing; Inspection; Evaluation; Process Improvement; Government Administration; AI and Machine Learning; Safety; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Citation

Johnson, Matthew S., David I. Levine, and Michael W. Toffel. "Making Workplaces Safer Through Machine Learning." Regulatory Review (February 26, 2024).