Small business health and safety
IWH research that specifically looks at injury prevention, return to work and other work-health issues in small businesses is collected together here. However, not included is IWH research that cuts across all sizes of business, including small business. For that reason, visitors are encouraged to explore beyond this page to find equally important information on the prevention of work injury and disability in small businesses.
Project
Project
Programs of early OHS intervention with small businesses
What existing OHS interventions for small businesses can be feasibly implemented in small business start-ups? This project aims to find out.
Status: Ongoing
IWH in the media
OHS for small businesses the next challenge for Ontario: IWH president
Too many small workplaces do not have adequate occupational health and safety (OHS) tools available to keep their workers safe. Don Wall interviews Dr. Cameron Mustard, Institute for Work & Health president, who says it’s time for Ontario to redouble its efforts to ensure the province’s small employers conduct business in healthy and safe environments.
Published: Daily Commercial News, July 2021
At Work article
Weaker OHS procedures, policies explain small employers’ higher injury risks: study
Workers at small firms are more exposed to hazards and report more work-related injuries and illnesses. But an IWH study finds injury risks in large and small firms even out when weaker OHS policies at small firms are accounted for.
Published: May 2021
Project
Project
Understanding the injury experience of Ontario small businesses through workers’ compensation claims data
By analyzing Ontario's workers’ compensation data, an IWH team is producing injury risk profiles by sector and workplace size, thus enhancing our understanding of risk in small businesses.
Status: Ongoing
Project
Project
Understanding OHS motivations and needs in small business
By looking at small businesses engaged with WSIB's Health and Safety Excellence Program, this IWH project is looking for effective approaches to delivering OHS services to small businesses and help them improve their safety cultures and outcomes.
Status: Ongoing
Impact case study
IWH model on breakthrough change used as foundation for WSPS small business strategy
An Ontario health and safety association, Workplace Safety and Prevention Services, turned to the Institute's model of breakthrough change to inform its approach to small business, especially the concept of finding the "knowledge transformation leader" within a small business to advocate for occupational health and safety change.
Published: December 2017
Tools and guides
Breakthrough Change in OHS: Case study series
Each of four case studies tells the story of an Ontario organization that achieved firm-level, sustained improvement in health and safety performance. Each illustrates the factors critical to making large improvement in health and safety, based upon an evidence-based model of breakthrough change developed through Institute for Work & Health research.
Published: January 2014
Journal article
Journal article
Effectiveness of health and safety in small enterprises: a systematic review of quantitative evaluations of interventions
Published: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, June 2010
Journal article
Journal article
Workplace health understandings and processes in small businesses: a systematic review of the qualitative literature
Published: Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, June 2010
At Work article
At Work article
The big picture: Solving the “problem” of OHS in small business
Solutions to the “problem” of health and safety in small business are slow in coming. At the 2009 Alf Nachemson Memorial Lecture, Dr. Joan Eakin drew upon her years of research to help explain why.
Published: February 2010