OHS Challenges in Australian Small Businesses: Old Problems and Emerging Risks

摘要

This article focuses on occupational health and safety (OHS) risks in small business. There are threereasons for devoting a whole paper to this subject. First, it is now patently clear that there are importantdifferences between large and small businesses – and between their OHS problems and solutions. While size isthe most obvious difference, economic/financial stability, expertise and resources available to deal with OHS,preferred forms of communication style, control systems, and even ideology are equally divergent. Second, anincreasing proportion of the Australian workforce is being employed in small business due to major structuralchanges occurring in the labour market. Third, there is mounting evidence that small business workers face ahigher risk of fatalities, permanent disabilities, and temporarily disabling injuries and illnesses. Fourth, there ispreliminary evidence that occupational violence is an increasing problem in retail small businesses.