Occupational Health Problems and Safety Conditions among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Cross-sectional Study in Shiraz, Iran.

Background: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) include a large part of manufacturing jobs and play an important role in developing national economics and employment.
Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate occupational health problems and safety conditions among SMEs in Shiraz, Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 711 SMEs, including 371 small enterprises (fewer than 25 workers) and 340 medium enterprises (25-99 workers), in Shiraz, Iran. The participants were selected randomly among the workplaces under the coverage of social security insurance. The researcher-made questionnaire, which consisted of demographic characteristics, the frequency rate of occupational accidents, and exposure to workplace harmful agents, were distributed among participants.
Findings: The results showed there were significantly more physical and chemical harmful agents in medium enterprises compared to small ones (P < 0.001). However, the frequency rate of accidents in small enterprises was significantly higher than in medium enterprises (P < 0.001). Also, there was no significant difference between the studied enterprises in ergonomic hazards, except for awkward posture, whose frequency rate was significantly higher in small enterprises (P < 0.05). Finally, among the reported symptoms, the prevalence of eye, skin, ear, and respiratory symptoms was significantly higher in medium enterprises compared to small enterprises (P < 0.05).
Conclusions: Occupational health and safety (OHS) regulations in medium enterprises have led to improved OHS conditions compared to small enterprises. Therefore, small enterprises should be included in OHS regulations.
Competing Interests: The authors have no competing interests to declare.
(© 2019 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.)