Annual OHS corporate disclosures and ‘safewashing’ of data

Not much to add here – just an interesting paper that explored safety reporting in voluntary annual disclosures.

“Of the data presented, the authors also say that “of OHS accounting appear to construct a reality in which occupational illness and injury severity are largely ignored and all non-fatal lost time injuries are equal” (p125), which directs investor attention towards traditional injury metrics of lower consequence.”

They also observed that high-hazard industry companies did disclose OHS info more regularly than low-hazard companies. However, this info was often “incomplete, unstable and poorly defined”, and was often based on aggregations of injury indices rather than reflecting critical risks and serious potential data.

They, tongue in check, suggested that this phenomenon was a type of corporate “safewashing”.

I summarised this paper a while back – link below if you’re interested.

Ref: O’Neill, S., Flanagan, J., & Clarke, K. (2016). Safety science

LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/benhutchinson2_not-much-to-add-here-just-an-interesting-activity-7094449853224648704-WelK?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop