a) Experienced business people will simply not buy a generic cost/benefit claim that says something like every dollar spent on safety saves two dollars, or whatever. If you really want to influence managers, look at each proposed initiative individually, computing its costs. Then compute the likely savings based on what similar initiatives have been documented to achieve elsewhere. This takes more work, but a manager who is skeptical to begin with won't be influenced by anything less.
Scott Stricoff, CSP, CIH, President, Behavior Science Technology, Ojai, Calif.