Assessment of occupational safety and health programs in small businesses.
BACKGROUND
Occupational safety and health (OSH) programs are a strategy for protecting workers' health, yet there are few peer-reviewed reports on methods for assessing them, or on the prevalent characteristics of OSH programs, especially in small businesses.


METHODS
We adapted an occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) survey instrument to assess: management commitment and employee participation, workplace analysis, hazard prevention and control, and education and training. This was supplemented by a series of open-ended questions. We administered the survey in 25 small worksites.


RESULTS
Scores for each element ranged widely, with distribution of most scores being positively skewed. Barriers to addressing OSH included lack of time and in-house expertise, and production pressures. External agents, including corporate parents, liability insurers, and OSHA, played an important role in motivating OSH programs.


CONCLUSIONS
Small businesses were able to mount comprehensive programs, however, they may rely on outside resources for this task. Being small may not be a barrier to meeting the requirements of an OSHA program management rule.
Barbeau
Elizabeth
E
Center for Community-Based Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. elizabeth.barbeau@@dfci.harvard.edu
Roelofs
Cora
C
Youngstrom
Richard
R
Sorensen
Glorian
G
Stoddard
Anne
A
LaMontagne
Anthony D
AD
D003132:Commerce / Q000145:classification*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009786:Occupational Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012449:Safety; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014489:United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration