Occupational health and safety management in “small size” enterprises, with particular emphasis on hazards identification

Abstract

Abstract The article presents the element of occupational health and safety management in enterprises, with particular emphasis on the identification of occupational hazards. The factors that may be a source of occupational hazards have been classified and divided. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of occupational hazards on work safety in the opinion of employees of micro and small enterprises. The research was carried out using the proprietary questionnaire. The results were verified by means of a direct interview with elements of observation. The research was compared with the trends prevailing in the enterprises of the European Union countries according to the results of the research conducted by EU-OSHA. Polish respondents considered physical and psychophysical factors to be the main occupational hazards. The results turned out to be very similar to those presented by EU-OSHA in its publicly available reports. The basic principle of occupational health and safety management, i.e. identification of occupational hazards, is reliability and correctness. Identification of occupational hazards gives the opportunity to take correct and effective corrective and preventive actions reducing occupational risk, for example through the effective use of personal protective equipment, or a more detailed treatment of both introductory and instructional training. The article also highlights the migration of individual occupational hazards, which depends on many factors, both professional and non-professional.