A limit on the amount of expenditure on any safety measure beyond which the risk balance (direct risk reduction minus indirect risk increase) would become negative from a national point of view is discussed. This limiting concept is considered within the framework of a developing country (Brazil) using data related to person-days lost per monetary unit of production of each economic sector and a simplified nine-sector input/output matrix for the economy. For the Brazilian case, the implementation of new safety equipment is not completely ruled out, although many important questions remain to be addressed because of the very fact that Brazil is a developing country.