Liberty Mutual Insurance recently reported that they are seeing more companies reporting injuries. This was unanticipated since with fewer worker working you would expect to see fewer injuries. While the data at this point is inconclusive, I believe that we will see that the reasons for these increases are three fold. First there are many companies that offered buyouts of workforce members in efforts to reduce the higher end of the salary spectrum. This ends up taking a significant portion of the senior employees with a vast amount of institutional understanding. Those who are left may not recognize why procedures are in place or the how they came to be implemented. Then comes the second likely cause for the problem. 
 
Since with EH&S it is difficult to judge the successes (how many injuries did we PREVENT today) and easy to document the failures, more companies are reducing their EHS contingents in efforts to cut costs.  Basically they are using hope as a management strategy and employee recognize this, whether overtly or not. When the employee sees that the company is reducing its support of safety, or there are less personnel to audit the programs. Suddenly there is less incentive to follow the established plan. 
 
I believe that the final nail in the coffin are these facts combined with the stress of not knowing whether they will remain employed. They are seeing reductions in work force and know plenty of other people who are in this situation. In this climate nobody wants to be the crybaby or the snitch so they turn the other cheek. Plus you are seeing people hired at lower wages than they may be accustom to receiving which adds resentment toward the employer. 
 
Only time will tell the cause, but when it does Assurance Compliance will be here to find way to maximize safety while reducing workers compensation and other risk related costs.