Facilitators and barriers to occupational health and safety in small and medium-sized enterprises: a descriptive exploratory study in Ontario,Canada

Purpose. The purpose of this particular study was to test a newly created instrument in describing the facilitators and barriers to occupational health and safety in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ontario, Canada. Methods. A cross-sectional design was used to identify the occupational health and safety culture of SMEs in public and private sectors in Ontario. Results. A total of 153 questionnaires were completed. The majority of respondents were female (84%) with a mean age of 49.8 years (SD 10.6). Seventy-four percent were supervisors. Seventy percent of respondents were from the private sector while 30% derived from the public sector including healthcare, community services, and non-profit organizations. Further, conducting regular external safety inspections of the workplace was found to be statistically associated with a safe work environment 2.88 95% CI [1.57, 5.27]. Conclusions. Strategies and training opportunities that focus on how to adapt occupational health and safety legislation to the nature and diversity of SMEs are recommended. Furthermore, employers may use such information to improve safety in their SMEs, while researchers can hopefully use such evidence to develop interventions that are applicable to meeting the occupational health and safety needs of SMEs.     

The productivity assessment tool: computer-based cost benefit analysis model for the economic assessment of occupational health and safety interventions in the workplace

INTRODUCTION AND MEthod: This paper describes the concepts behind cost benefit analysis in occupational health and safety and introduces the Productivity Assessment Tool, a method by which an analysis may be performed relatively easily in a service or manufacturing workplace. The advantage of using such analyses is to show the important financial role that safe and efficient workplaces play in the workplace. RESULTS: By using analytical tools, the effectiveness of an intervention (workplace change) may be estimated prior to its introduction. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: This places occupational health and safety on the same financial footing as other proposed workplace changes and thus places occupational health and safety in a strong position to attract scarce resources.     

企业劳动安全卫生的模糊综合评价

企业的劳动安全卫生状况必须符合国家规定的标准,而企业投入与安全效用的关系密不可分。在市场经济条件下,安全经济问题具有多目标、多属性的特点,劳动安全卫生评价,实质上是评价企业投入的合理配置及效用均衡。对于受多因素影响的复杂问题,本文应用模糊数学综合评价方法,建立企业劳动安全卫生的多层次模糊综合评价模型。     

广东省企业安全生产主体责任现状分析

在构建企业安全生产主体责任绩效评估体系基础上,结合层次分析和模糊综合处理方法,对广东省企业安全生产主体责任落实情况进行全面调查分析。结果显示,组织机构与人员配置是安全生产主体责任落实中最重要的环节;一般地,外资企业好于中资企业,大型企业好于中小型企业,生产复杂度与主体责任绩效成反比;职业危害、安全生产监督、奖惩制度实施等是企业在落实安全生产主体责任之中较为薄弱的环节。最后提出相应建议：（1）在全省推行安全生产标准化的基础上,建立健全企业安全生产主体责任体系;（2）建立广东省职业危害与控制中心,健全职业安全健康管理体系;（3）进一步健全经济社会转型期的企业安全生产监督管理体系。     

对乡镇企业职工的职业安全卫生知识、态度、行为的调查

从对某市部分乡镇企业职工的职业安全卫生知识、态度、行为所进行的调查看,不同状况的人群对职业安全卫生知识、态度、习惯有显著性差异。为此,提示职业安全卫生监督管理部门及企业的有关职能部门在职工的职业安全卫生教育中,要加强对文化程度低、年轻、工龄较短的职工的教育,并采用形式多样化手段。另外,职业安全监督管理部门还要加强监督外资企业做好职工的职业安全卫生教育。从职工对职业安全卫生的态度及行为结果看,提出在进行职业安全卫生教育时,要有针对性。不仅要给职工配备劳保用品,更重要的是监督职工经常和正确地使用劳保用品,并养成良好的卫生习惯     

我国小企业安全生产现状与对策

安全生产关系人民群众的生命财产安全 ,关系改革发展和社会稳定大局。但是 ,目前我国的安全生产形势依然严峻 ,特别是改革开放以来 ,随着各种经济成分 ,尤其是三资企业、私营企业、乡镇企业和个体经济组织大量产生 ,小企业的安全生产普遍存在无人管和不会管的问题 ,重特大事故频频发生。根据国家安全生产监督管理局统计显示 ,近年来发生的特大事故中 ,70 %以上集中在小企业。笔者就中国小企业的界定标准、安全生产状况、事故频发的原因、采取的对策及取得的成绩作一简要介绍。     

Occupational Safety Culture Index (OSCI)——measuring the community and employees awareness,attitude and knowledge towards workplace safety and health in Hong Kong SAR

Promoting occupational safety and health in Hong Kong,Special Administrative Region of China is an important and ongoing mission. As the major organization with statutory responsibilities,the Occupational Safety and Health Council understand the importance to strengthen and cultivate our safety culture. It is widely believed that numbers of occupational related diseases and injuries could be prevented with the improvement of the awareness and attitudes of the employees and the public. Therefore,a comprehensive and in-depth study to monitor the occupational health and safety level and status of the community and working population is needed. Objectives: Our Council has developed the Occupational Safety Culture Index ( OSCI) to measure the current level of community and workplace safety and health awareness,knowledge and attitude. Benchmarking measures of the key safety performance indicators are to be derived thereof. Methods: A territory-wide random telephone survey was conducted to assess the community and employees’awareness,attitude and knowledge in 2008. A structured questionnaire was designed with the content validity and reliability assessed before the survey administration. A series of quality control approaches were also applied to assure the quality of the fieldwork and the reliability of the data. Results: 1,531 eligible participants’data were collected and computed into 2 types of composite indices,Occupational Safety Culture Index ( Community) ( OSCIC) and Occupational Safety Culture Index (Workplace) (OSCIW) . With the maximum score of index at 100,the overall score of OSCIC is 66. 9 and the OSCIW is 61. 3 in Hong Kong. Achievements: OSCI served as an effective management tool to measure the safety culture in Hong Kong. With a representative sample and high quality study control and validated assessment approaches,the OSCI and the sub-indices are reliable indicators to assess the effectiveness of safety culture enhancement strategy and the OSH intervention measures.     

Working in small enterprises – Is there a special risk?

Ownership structure is an important factor. For independent enterprises, the ergonomic, physical and chemical work environment is more hazardous in small enterprises than in large ones. For enterprises that are part of a larger organization, the work environment tends to be more hazardous in large enterprises when controlling for the same factors. For the psychosocial factors, the trend is different – better in small than in large enterprises independent of ownership. In all enterprises, both public and private, the quality of health and safety management systems and workplace assessment is remarkably higher in large than in small enterprises.These differences in work environment for small and large enterprises have been studied in the ‘Danish Work Environment Cohort Study’ and ‘Surveillance of health and safety activities in enterprises’. These datasets are linked together to a reliable database with data on work environment and enterprises including size, ownership structure, and health and safety management.     

The effect of first aid training on Australian construction workers' occupational health and safety motivation and risk control behavior

METHOD: A 24-week experiment was conducted to assess how first aid training affects the motivation of small business construction industry employees in avoiding occupational injuries and illnesses and its effect on their occupational health and safety behavior. A simplified multiple baseline design across workplace settings was used to evaluate the effects of first aid training. Participants' motivation to control occupational safety and health risks was explored during in-depth interviews before and after receipt of first aid training. Objective measurement of occupational safety and health behavior was conducted by a researcher directly observing the workplace before and after participants received first aid training. RESULTS: The observations at participants' worksites suggested that, for the most part, the first aid training had a positive effect on the occupational safety and health behavior of participants. First aid training appeared to reduce participants' "self--other" bias, making them more aware that their own experience of occupational safety and health risks is not beyond their control but that their own behavior is an important factor in the avoidance of occupational injury and illness. First aid training also appeared to reduce participants' willingness to accept prevailing levels of occupational safety and health risk and increase the perceived probability that they would suffer a work-related injury or illness. Participants expressed greater concern about taking risks at work after receiving first aid training. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: It appears that first aid training enhances participants' motivation to avoid occupational injuries and illnesses and improves their risk control behavior. The implications of this are that first aid training can have a positive preventive effect and could complement traditional occupational health and safety training programs. As such, there may be benefit in providing first aid training to all employees rather than limiting this training to a small number of designated "first aiders."     

Drivers for OSH interventions in small and medium-sized enterprises

The debate concerning occupational safety and health (OSH) interventions has recently focused on the need of improving the evaluation of interventions, and in particular on the need for providing information about why the intervention worked or not, under what circumstances and in which context. Key concepts in the analysis of the context are the drivers, i.e., those factors enabling, fostering or facilitating OSH interventions. However, the concept of driver for an OSH intervention is both confused and contested. Although the term is widely used, there is little consensus on how drivers should be understood, how important they are in different contexts and how they can facilitate interventions. This exploratory study based on interviews with the owner-managers and the safety officers of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) gives an overview of the most characteristic drivers for OSH interventions. The results will be used to make an initial evaluation of SMEs' needs, and will help orient interventions and future research.     

职业安全健康管理体系对企业经济和社会效益影响研究

为了评估职业安全健康管理体系的建立与企业经济和社会效益的关系 ,笔者对 12 5家企业的安全生产投入 ,因事故、职业病或违约造成的经济投入 (损失 ) ,以及建立职业安全健康管理体系后对企业经营活动及社会形象的影响进行了分析。结果发现 ,企业在建立职业安全健康管理体系期间及之后其安全生产投入比未建企业和建立体系之前增加 ;对事故、职业病或违约造成的经济投入加大 ;签订合同额和投标活动的中标率上升 ,员工抱怨次数及相关方抱怨次数下降。上述结果表明 ,职业安全健康管理体系的建立和运行对企业有良好的经济和社会效益。     

乡镇工业职业卫生服务与初级卫生保健相结合初探

针对我国乡镇工业职业卫生面临的“高需求、低服务”。以及与农村初级卫生保健(PHC)相脱节问题。提出实施乡镇企业职业卫生与PHC相结合的必要性和迫切性。结合WHO职业卫生合作中心(上海)在华东地区的试点探索,提出两者结合的内容和方式的若干设想,强调从更新观念全面认识PHC和把职业卫生与安全作为PHC组成部分入手,深入实践,共同为卫生部领导下的全国性探索作贡献。     

基于生命经济价值理论的企业安全投资技术经济分析

正确估算人的生命经济价值 ,对于正确评价企业安全投资的经济效益有着重要的意义。在我国 ,长期以来 ,对各种伤亡事故和职业危害的经济赔偿标准定得太低 ,不仅使伤亡者不能获得合理的经济赔偿 ,而且客观上助长了企业经营者轻视安全投资的行为 ,这与我国缺乏较为完善的生命经济价值理论有着密切的关系。目前对人的生命经济价值的估算方法基本上可以分为两大类 :人力资本法和支付意愿法。笔者在前人研究的基础上 ,运用理论模型估算出我国目前一名具有高中文化程度职工的生命经济价值约为 72万元 ,如果条件许可 ,通过调查收集数据 ,然后采用支付意愿法并进行回归分析 ,可获得较为精确的估算值     

The unequal distribution of occupational health and safety risks among immigrants to Canada compared to Canadian-born labour market participants: 1993–2005

ObjectivesTo examine the prevalence of occupational health and safety risk factors among immigrants to Canada compared to Canadian-born labour force participants.MethodsUsing data from Statistic Canada’s Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, we examined the differential probabilities of six different occupational health and safety risks: non-membership in a union or collective bargaining agreement; employment in physically demanding occupations; employment in a workplace with less than 20 employees; regular shift work; irregular shift work; and having non-permanent employment. Our main independent variables were length of time in Canada, visible minority status, mother tongue, and location where highest level of education was attained. Models were adjusted for age, gender, education, marital status, province of residence, living in an urban or rural location, and industry group.ResultsOf the six occupational health and safety risks examined we found that our main independent variables describing aspects of immigration status were associated with five; the exception being irregular shift work. Adjustment for industry did not attenuate these relationships to a large extent.ConclusionsImmigrants to Canada are faced with many occupational health and safety risks compared to Canadian-born respondents. These risks may be heightened among immigrants as they may not have knowledge of workplace rights and protections or have problems communicating health and safety risks or concerns. The timely provision information on occupational health and safety to immigrants before they start working should be a priority as they integrate into the Canadian labour market.     

我国部分保健与安全活动经济代价的初步评价

社会中的许多卫生保健活动都需要在经济代价和人的安全健康之间作出权衡。这种权衡往往需要确定危害人们健康和安全的经济价值。笔者从人力资本和支付意愿两个方面,对我国卫生、环保、安全有关的经济数据进行了评价分析。在人力资本方面,考虑了人均终生的国民生产总值、国民收入、消费水平、职工工资、城乡居民收入。在支付意愿方面,考虑了医疗救治的费用、社会保险费用、司法赔偿、职业劳动保护费用、降低辐射危害的费用以及政府采用数值等。根据这些分析评价,笔者建议：我国卫生保健有关的人的社会经济价值,若以１９９０ 年可比价格计算,分布在（９～４０）万元之间,适中的估计为２０ 万元。     

The reality of “Revitalizing Health and Safety”

Problem: Workplace health and safety remains an important international socioeconomic issue, but the progressive declines in reported incidents may be slowing. The British Government has responded by launching a new policy initiative aimed at “Revitalizing Health and Safety” by establishing targets for improvement, strategies, and a series of action points, mainly targeting employers and organizational issues. This paper critically assesses the realities of implementing this policy with respect to the scientific base for each of the strategies. Method: Literature meta-analysis; analysis of policy. Results: Empirically proven determinants of workplace health and safety provide baselines for compensation and conditions of work, workforce characteristics, workplace characteristics, health and safety environment, political and economic factors, and industry characteristics. Support for different policy elements is varied and there are some significant gaps. Summary: An impressive body of research was found that offers a firm foundation for future developments. However, the need for work that is interdisciplinary, ordered, and collaborative is pressing. The need to move away from elegant but simplistic pictures of occupational health and safety (OHS) management practice, and to reflect true complexity is imperative. The reality of health and safety at work is that it is an issue that is taken lightly by those who do not practice or research safe and healthy working, and a serious issue for victims or relatives of victims of shoddy management. It remains one of the bastions of inequality of work worldwide. Impact on industry: The intent of governments in attempting to reinvigorate the suppression of workplace injury and illness is motivated by both social and economic imperatives. Motivation for organizations is not fully understood as there is no obvious business imperative. If organizations can further understand and provide a scientific justification for investment in OHS management, then governments' task will be made easier. By proving the value of OHS to management, we will demonstrate that organizations continue to present considerable hazards to their employees.     

实施OSHMS对企业职业安全健康管理状况影响分析

为了研究实施职业安全健康管理体系(OSHMS)对企业职业安全健康管理状况的影响,对百余家已实施与未实施OSHMS的企业进行了调研,在对调研结果分析研究的基础上,采用双对照分析的方法,对已通过OSHMS认证的企业在建立OSHMS前后的职业安全健康管理状况进行对照比较,以及已建立OSHMS与未建立OSHMS的企业的职业安全健康管理状况进行对照比较,研究结果表明,实施OSHMS有利于提高企业职业安全健康管理的整体水平,改善企业的职业安全健康管理状况,使职业安全健康管理更加科学化和规范化。     

我国南方某省1988～1992年工伤调查分析

通过对南方某省１９８８～１９９２年工伤发生情况的调查，五年间工伤事故数、工伤死亡率及重伤率有逐年增加的趋势，煤炭、交通、建筑三个行业的工伤死亡人数约占工伤死亡总数的５０％；县以下乡镇企业中的工伤事故数、死亡率及重伤率均居首位。工伤事故中造成死亡的原因主要集中在物体打击、触电、高空坠落；引起重伤的原因集中在机械伤害、物体打击、车辆伤害和高空坠落。因此在劳动安全卫生管理工作上，要采取一些强有力的干预措施，特别要加强对乡镇工业企业及那些易发生工伤事故企业的管理。     

Working Conditions in Small Private Enterprises in Poland

The study deals with working conditions in small private enterprises in Poland. Data come from 50 small enterprises from the Warsaw area. Information about the evaluation of working conditions and the existence of programmes for their improvement was gathered with the help of questionnaires addressed to employees and employers. The results constitute a ‘photograph’ of the Polish reality at the beginning of its transition from planned to market economy. The study revealed a lack of programmes for the improvement of working conditions in a significant number of the enterprises studied as well as little interest in occupational safety on the part of employers (owners).

The study also revealed that all decisions—including those about the improvement of working conditions—were made by employers. Hence, the need for the widest possible dissemination of knowledge on occupational safety and the protection of human in the working environment with particular stress put on employers. Employers who are knowledgeable in this field and who are aware of its importance can significantly influence the improvement of working conditions in small enterprises.