Occupational Health and Safety: The Role of Information and Financial Linkage

Abstract

A field experiment in Bangladesh provides informal firms information on occupational health and safety (OHS). A sub-treatment arm provides firms with financial linkages to address credit constraint. Two years after the intervention, treated firms are more likely to invest in health and safety measures and firm owners and workers have increased health and safety knowledge. Treated firms are also more likely to hire new apprentices and more experienced skilled workers and foremen. However, we find no effect on profit. We find no additional effect due to financial linkages, suggesting that addressing the information gap is key to improving OHS. This research is part of the Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries programme