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

A field experiment in Bangladesh provides informal firms information on occupational health and safety (OHS). One treatment arm (T1) focuses on OHS training while a second treatment arm (T2) provides OHS training plus financial linkages to address credit constraints. Two years after the intervention, treated firms are more likely to invest in safety measures. Gains in safety knowledge and awareness are observed in both owners and workers of treated firms. Moreover, treated firms hire more apprentices and fewer skilled workers, but are more likely to retain skilled workers with longer occupation-specific experience. We also find improved wages for workers in treated firms, particularly those under T2. Three years post intervention, we find lower job satisfaction and more perceived stress for T1 workers but not for T2 workers, suggesting that OHS knowledge can have a negative effect on worker wellbeing, but higher wages may serve as a compensating wage differential