Safety Management Improvement Possibilities in Smes

Abstract The safety management system in 16 Estonian manufacturing companies (eight certified and eight noncertified in OHSAS (occupational health and safety management systems standard) 18001; four of the last corporated to the foreign firms) were investigated using the MISHA method. The results showed that if the advanced safety methods (like proposed by OHSAS 18001) are implemented by the initiative of the employers of the locally-owned Estonian SMEs, the level in safety performance, comparable with OHSAS certified companies could be achieved. The regression analysis showed strong correlation between the personnel management, safety activities in practice, communication, physical work environment, psychological working conditions, hazards analysis procedures and the safety level, R2= 0.7312-0.9596; medium correlation between the participation, personnel safety training, occupational accidents and illnesses, social work environment and the safety level (R2=0.3133-0.6044). Low correlation (R2= 0.2139) was recorded between the safety policy and the safety level and there was no correlation between the work ability of the employees and the safety level. The methods to improve the locally-owned enterprises’ safety level up to the corporated and OHSAS 18001 certified level are proposed. The cost of suitable safety measures is calculated. The MISHA method improvement possibilities for the use in the SMEs (small and medium size companies) are presented.