A Comparison of the Strategies of SMEs and Large Companies in the Field of Occupational Safety

Abstract

The prevention of occupational accidents is not only an important factor for productivity and profitability, but also for the job satisfaction of employees in any company. Striving for a high level of occupational safety is therefore crucial, as the shortage of skilled workers has not significantly abated permanently because of the Corona crisis and preventing accidents and maintaining the working capacity of existing employees ensures the functioning of the company. Organizations use various strategies to improve occupational safety performance, but not all strategies succeed. In particular, it also shows that there are differences in the average frequency of accidents among organizations with different numbers of employees. This paper explores the question of whether small and medium-sized enterprises, in contrast to large enterprises, pursue different strategies in occupational safety and whether these different strategies have an influence on the number of occupational accidents. To answer the research questions, the authors used the methods of standardised questioning according to Reinecke, literature analysis according to Webster and Watson, deduction, comparison, and synthesis. Based on a survey of 118 companies in the Federal Republic of Germany, it was found that the strategy of small and medium-sized companies differs significantly from the strategy of large companies. The strategies in the respective size classes differ above all in the aspects of degree of organisational structure, systematics, investigation of occupational accidents and existence of continuous improvement.