This article performs empirical research and finds a negative relationship between accidents in the workplace and financial performance. The relationship is stronger and more persistent for performance 1 year ahead than for the current year. We find no significant evidence of curvilinear U-shaped or inverted U-shaped relationships. Results are strong across different industries and samples, variable definitions and model specifications. The study contributes to the scarce extant research with reliable data and samples of a wide span of industries. The study also contributes methodologically with refined analyses of the curvilinear relationship and providing robust widespread inference for a large number of industries.
Keywords: accidents in the workplace; financial performance; labour accidents; profitability; safety.