Griffel, Avi

Israeli Institute for Safety and Hygiene, Israel

Preparing an EU project: Experimental Implementation of OSHMS for SMEs

Abstract

The general aim of the “OSHMS for SME’s” project is to design, implement, and assess effectiveness of a proposed OSHMS for SMEs. The project will be done in the following phases:

a) Adopting an OSHMS model for SME’s, based on the recent ILO-OSH-MS.

b) Developing or adopting some basic tools for hazard identification, risk assessment, accident root cause analysis, etc., "downsized" to SME level.

c) Train OSH experts (“field mediators”) how to implement the OSHMS for SME’s.

d) Experimentally implement the OSHMS in few SMEs, while researching factors that enhance or block the implementation (with a pilot study done first).

e) Carry out effectiveness assessment of the intervention and the implemented OSHMS.

f) Writing a manual for implementing OSHMS in SMEs.

g) Disseminate the knowledge and promote future activities in the area of OSHMS for SME’s.

The project will be carried out in 8 countries, with about 20 SMEs studied in every country. The participating countries are: Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Israel, Poland, Spain and UK. Team members include 4 national OSH institutes, three universities, one management company and one non-pro-profit OSH consultant firm. The first meeting of the research team took place at Prague, on May 2001. The meeting was hosted by the Czech Republic Occupational Safety Research Institute.  In this meeting, it was decided to submit an RTD proposal to the EU DG-XII 5^th Framework Programme on October 2001.

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