Costs and Benefits of occupational Health Nursing
September 1980
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication Number 80-140
The costs and benefits associated with occupational health nursing programs were studied. One pair of small manufacturing facilities from the clothing, electronics, processing machinery, and textile industries was selected; one facility in each pair employed a nurse and the other did not. Information related to costs and benefits of an occupational health nursing program was collected for a 3 year retrospective period. An occupational health nursing program provided substantial economic benefits to employers and employees in small facilities. Less benefit from a nursing program was found in small facilities which had few occupation hazards or which had developed cost effective alternatives for the delivery of occupational medical care. The author recommends that facility managers pay greater attention to costs associated with employee illness and injury.