A Cloud-Based Tool for Integrating Occupational Risk Assessment Within Management Systems for SMEs

Diego De Merich,Maria Grazia Gnoni,Guido Sala,Guido J L Micheli,Fabiana Tornese,Giusi Piga,Brunella Malorgio

doi:10.3390/safety6040047

Abstract

About 67% of workers employed in the industrial and service sectors in the European Union are currently contracted by Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), which represent the economic heart of the European economy. However, this strength is counterbalanced by a considerably higher overall accident rate compared to Large Enterprises (LEs), and this trend seems to be confirmed worldwide. Moreover, most available tools for risk assessment and occupational health and safety (OHS) management are originally designed to fit the needs of LEs, resulting in a gap for SMEs. Therefore, the effective management of OHS in SMEs has become a crucial issue for researchers, practitioners and policymakers, aiming to improve the social and economic sustainability of small companies. The main purpose of this study is to provide guidelines to implement effective risk assessment processes and integrate them with OHS management systems in SMEs. A literature analysis of risk assessment and OHS management in SMEs highlights the main findings and gaps. Then, the three-phases methodology adopted is presented, outlining the main steps and outputs of the project. Finally, the web-based software tool for OHS risk analysis and management, designed to answer the specific needs of SMEs, is presented.

Highlights

Researchers in the safety field are focusing on designing more effective occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS) [1]: this is a critical topic especially for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), with less than 50 employees
Despite the relevance of SMEs have in the European several related to OHS. Management for these companies been reported economy, in the literature, anddifficulties acknowledged by policy and practitioners, and their great economic potential is threatened by the inefficiency of safety management for these companies have been reported in the literature, and acknowledged by policy and management intervention processes, intensified by the recognized lack of toolsofdesigned for their practitioners, and their great economic potential is threatened by the inefficiency safety management specific processes, needs
To deal with this problem, a few researchers proposed innovative ways to manage OHS in SMEs, but an OHSMS designed for SMEs is still missing since most of the commercial tools available are designed for large enterprises (LEs) and provide some kind of support to SMEs just for risk assessment

Summary

Introduction

Researchers in the safety field are focusing on designing more effective occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS) [1]: this is a critical topic especially for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), with less than 50 employees. Since SMEs represent the heart of the European economy, employing about 67% of workers of the industrial and service sectors, an effective OHS management in SMEs would be essential to guarantee the social sustainability and economic wealth of European companies. This percentage increases in Italy (raising up to 80%), with SMEs representing 99.9% of the total number of companies [2]. Despite their strategic relevance, research shows that OHS management is much more successful in large enterprises (LEs), but it still represents a weakness in SMEs [1].

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Results

Conclusion