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

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.

Application of Near-Miss Management Systems: An Exploratory Field Analysis in the Italian Industrial Sector

“…An interesting point emerges from the cluster that already adopts NMMS: the largest group is composed of large companies, but a wide application is also outlined for small and medium ones. This result confirms the trend outlined by several papers and reports in the literature that sees smaller companies dedi-cating fewer resources to safety management and performing worse than large companies in occupational health and safety (OHS) [30]. Therefore, small and micro-companies should be the target to consider for extending the application of NMMS [25].…”

Assessment of Safety Levels in the Agricultural Sector for Supporting Social Sustainability: A Quantitative Analysis from a National Point of View

“…The high injury rate is also related to the presence of near-miss events, which are precursor events that can be somehow connected to injuries since a positive correlation can be outlined between the number of near-miss events experienced by workers and their involvement in an accident for specific types of events (like a fall from a piece of machinery) [8]. Several different elements contribute to this result, like the presence of different hazard sources (from machinery to specific products used in farm management) and the high presence of small and medium enterprises, which are usually less organized than large companies in managing safety at the workplace [9]. Moreover, a recent study based on a survey conducted among Italian companies in agriculture suggests that the level of safety regarding climate perception is particularly low among farmers, causing a risktaking attitude in this sector [10].…”