Development of a Preliminary Model for Evaluating Occupational Health and Safety Risk Management Maturity in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Bilal Kaassis,Adel Badri

doi:10.3390/safety4010005

Abstract

Management of occupational health and safety (OHS) risks is a crucial component of any business. Numerous investigations have shown that work-related injuries and deaths occur disproportionately in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and that this is clearly due to deficient management of OHS risks. The main goal of this work is to develop a base of indicators suitable for evaluating OHS risk management maturity in industrial SMEs. A preliminary model is then proposed for this evaluation, based on a small number of relevant indicators selected from a careful bibliographic review. The work begins with a critical review of the literature and analysis of known concepts, methods, tools and models of measurement of risk analysis maturity in order to extract relevant indicators. The most suitable indicators are then grouped to form the basis of a preliminary model for evaluating OHS risk management maturity in the SME setting. Our findings will help managers of SMEs make sound decisions in their quest to improve the OHS performance of their businesses.

Highlights

In 2014, workplace accidents and conditions were the direct cause of 2.3 million deaths around the world [1]
Maturity in the context of the small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) setting means reaching a certain level of effectiveness and performance with regard to management of occupational health and safety (OHS) risks
Measurement of the level of risk management maturity is fundamental to self-evaluation and improvement

Summary

Introduction

In 2014, workplace accidents and conditions were the direct cause of 2.3 million deaths around the world [1]. About 350,000 of these were due to accidents while the rest were the result of work-related diseases. In 2015, about 87,600 work-related lesions were recorded in Québec [3], where workplace accidents and work-related illnesses do not follow the same trend, the period of 2007 to 2012 in particular showing a drop of −4.8% per year for accidents and an increase of 2.7% per year for illnesses [4]. The remarkable variability of the number of work-related fatalities per year is not new. The trend appears to be the same or possibly worse in Québec small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up the majority of the economic fabric of the province

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Conclusion