In safety epidemiology, the cost of changes made to increase safety as compared to the costs of accidents or illnesses’ resulting from exposure to the uncorrected hazardous situation.
A technique for placing a numerical value on the benefits to be derived from using a piece of equipment or operating a program as compared with its costs. The goal is to develop a cost-benefit ratio. If the ratio is greater than 1.0, the benefits more than outweigh the costs; if the ratio is less than 1.0, the costs are greater than the benefits. This process is difficult to use in health care in many instances where the benefits are in quality of life rather than something readily measured in dollars.