COMPENSACION POSTURAL FLEXIBILIDAD
2. ESTADÍSTICA INFERENCIAL:
The project is being conducted at the Occupational Health Service Centre Frederiksborg in Northern Zealand. The Centre has 350 affiliated member enter- prises with less than 10 employees. These enterprises cover about 10% of the to- tal number of affiliated employees. The Centre has received funds for a pilot project form the National Working Environment Board and the project is running in 1999-2000. It is therefore not yet completed. The objective is to develop an extensive service profile for small enterprises integral to the daily operation. Special emphasis has been put on the sustainability of the system.
The target group is all the SMEs that are members of the Occupational Health Service Centre Frederiksborg. The main sectors represented are industry, con- struction and hotel & restaurants. The overall target is to make a visit to all mem- ber SMEs - 337 in total.
The point of departure was that the SMEs very seldom take contact to the OHS. Table 5.1 shows that over the last 8 years the OHS Centre Frederiksborg has been in contact to 181 SME's.
Table 5.1: Number of contacts during the period of 1.1.1991 – 4.6.1999
Branches Number of SME
in OHS Frederiksborg Enterprises with contact to OHS Contact caused a negotiation of contracts Enterprises with contact to OHS in all Industry 73 42 20 62 Construction 137 18 2 20
Hotel and restaurants 61 11 20 31
Other branches 67 58 8 66
I alt 337 131 50 181
We would like to mention some tendencies. The OHS Centre Frederiksborg has over a period of more than 8 years been in contact with approximately 50% of the SME members, primarily from industry and other branches.
There has not been the same tradition for SMEs to contact OHS within the construction and ho- tel and restaurant sectors. OHS has only been in contact with 13% of the SMEs within construc- tion and 20% within hotel and restaurants.
The framework for the project is the establishment of a special membership pool for small enterprises where it is ensured that all funds paid by the small enterpri- ses in membership fees come back to them. In most of the occupational health service units, the tendency is for large enterprises to draw so strongly on occupa- tional health service resources that in practice the small enterprises’ membership fees are transferred to the large enterprises.
With the creation of a special “small enterprise membership pool” it is possible to offer consultancies specifically tailored to the needs of small enterprises, even though the concrete situation might entail that the consultancy hours used exceed
the income from member fees for the year in question. But the experience indica- tes that small enterprises only rarely need more comprehensive advice which re- quires many consultancy hours. The funds which remain in surplus beyond the direct enterprise consultancies are applied to the outreach activities.
Besides the membership pool a number of other elements are integrated in the project:
• A personal contact person arrangement in which the small enterprises are paid an initial visit by the contact person.
• A telephone duty watch for “here-and-now” responses.
• A special workplace assessment method developed for small enterprises.
• Tailored after-work seminars with presentation of, among others, the work- place assessment method and other special topics designed for small enterpri- ses and focus on practical exchanges of experience.
• Development of contact to the typical network of small enterprises such as lo- cal employers associations and organisation of joint activities
• An information strategy designed specially for the target group of small enter- prises, including a newsletter for small enterprises and articles in local weekly journals.
An important part of the project has been to develop the consultants’ qualifica- tions for working with small enterprises. Especially the need to focus on positive achievements, rather than the traditional problems oriented approach, has been emphasised.
Results
The project, as mentioned, is not yet completed, but a midterm evaluation has been carried out. The reaction, so far, is very positive, but a number of con- straints have also appeared.
Most of the visited small enterprises have given a positive feed back and indi- cated satisfaction with the attempts from the occupational health service to offer them special assistance. Practically all the small enterprise owners who have been contacted have accepted the offer of a visit from their contact person - only a few have declined. Many of them – more than expected – have also requested assistance to solve specific working environment problems. A reasonable number of participants have also showed up for seminars organised for the small enter- prises. Especially seminars taking place in a small enterprise have been popular because amongst other things, the participating owners have, on a couple of occasions, defined the seminar themes. But the seminars have also showed some of the constraints. Even though an owner has signed up for participation, he may not show up if something more important happens to take place in his firm. Also, many resources have been wasted travelling in vain to companies whose owner has been impeded at the last minute - typically because of an urgent work matter.
For the consultants the project has also been a fruitful learning experience, but also with some straining occurrences. For many consultants it has been difficult to change from the problem orientation to a more positive approach and it has raised a lot of questions for them. Some of them being: What can we really offer these small enterprises with their special problems? How much shall we tolerate if they have a negative attitude towards the OHS because they regard the OHS as extra tax? It has also been a heavy work burden for the consultants to overcome all the initial visits, due to the lack of visits/contact in earlier years and due also to the larger enterprises maintainment of their need for consultant advice. It has taken much more time to organise and visit the small enterprises than originally expected. That is of course a onetime problem as it will not be necessary to visit the companies so often once they have their personal contact.
At company level it is still too early to extract any analysed results. But some tendencies can be observed. For example, the visited SMEs are more likely to contact the OHS. Other tendencies show that SMEs after a meeting with the OHS have created a policy for purchasing equipment and other SMEs have made guidelines for handling chemical and other substances.
Bibliography
Arbejdstilsynet: BST status 1994/1995 [The State of Affairs for the occupational
health service 1994/95]. Copenhagen: Direktoratet for Arbejstilsynet, 1995.
Arbejdstilsynet: Visionen for det ulykkesforebyggende arbejde i Danmark [The
vision for prevention of accidents in Denmark]. Copenhagen. Arbejdstilsy-
net 1998.
Blenker, Per: “Erhvervsudvikling i det små [Business Development on a Small
Scale]”, in Kultur brudstykker, ed. by Lisbeth Christensen and Per Blenker.
Auning: Institut for små og mellemstore virksomheder, 1992, pp. 19-38. Buus, Jørgen, and Just, Ilse: Arbejdsmiljøarbejdet på små grafiske virksomheder
[Working Environment Activities in Small Enterprises in the Printing Indu- stry]. Lyngby: Institut for Arbejdsmiljø, Denmark’s Technical University,
1992.
Emborg, Jeannette and Christenen, Hilmer Juhl: Arbejdsmiljø i lokalt perspektiv -
erfaringer med arbejde rettet mod små og mellemstore virksomheder [Working Environment in a Local Perspective - Experience with Activities Aimed at Small and Medium-sized Enterprises]. Copenhagen: Arbejdsmil-
jøfondet, 1997.
Hasle, Peter: Health and safety in small enterprises in Denmark and the role of
intermediaries. Copenhagen. CASA 2000.
Hasle, Peter and Dalskinn, Esben: Arbejdspladsvurdering i små virksomheder
med 1-4 ansatte [Workplace assessment in small enterprises with 1-4 em- ployees]. Copenhagen. Arbejdstilsynet 2000.
Hasle, Peter and Limborg, Hans Jørgen: A method for introduction of preventive
working environment activities in small enterprises. Copenhagen: CASA
1997.
Hasle, Peter and Limborg, Hans Jørgen: Opsøgende arbejdsmiljøarbejde i små
virksomheder - ideer til at gå i gang [Outreach Working Environment Activities - Ideas to Get Started]. Copenhagen: Arbejdstilsynet, 1998.
Hasle, Peter; Thoft, Eva; Simonsen, Jan; and Olsen, Poul B.; APV undervejs - om
muligheder og barrierer i APV-arbejdet [Workplace assessment on the way - about possibilities and constraints in workplace assessment].
Hasle, Peter; Wibroe, Lone; Petersen, Frede; Lachenmeier, Connie; Vogelius, Camilla and Sunesen, Peter: Forbedring af arbejdsmiljøet i små virksom-
heder. Baggrund og metodebeskrivelse [Improvement of the Working Envi- ronment in Small Enterprises - Introduction and Methods]. Copenhagen:
CASA (Centre for Alternative Social Analysis), 1992.
Henriksen, Lars Bo: Små og mellemstore virksomheder - en kort introduktion til
perspektiver, problemer og muligheder [Small and Medium-sized Enterpri- ses - a Brief Introduction]. Aalborg: Institut for Produktion, Aalborg Uni-
versity, 1994.
Limborg, Hans Jørgen and Hasle, Peter: BST og små virksomheder - Erfaringer
med redskaber til at forbedre arbejdsmiljøet [occupational health service and Small Enterprises - Experience with Methods to Improve the Working Environment]. Copenhagen: Arbejdsmiljøfondet, 1996.
Mønsted, Mette: Små virksomheder i rådgivningssystemet [Small Enterprises in
the Consultancy System]. Copenhagen: Nyt fra samfundsvidenskaberne,
1985.
Teknologisk Informationscenter, Roskilde Amt: Mindre og mellemstore virksom-
heders behov for ekstern assistance i Roskilde Amt [Small and Medium- sized Enterprises’ Needs for External Assistance]. Tåstrup: DTI Industriel
ledelse, 1993.
Tybjerg, Aldrich; Forman, P. M.; Holm, G.; Bech Mathiesen, L. and Seeback, M.: Evaluering af erfaringer med nuværende BST-ordninger [Evaluation of
Experience with the Present occupational health service-system]. Tåstrup:
Table 1: Number of Workplaces and Number of Employees, November 1993
Size of workplace: 1-9 employees 10-19 employees 20-49 employees 50-99 employees 100+ employees Total Sector: --- Number of workplaces ---
Agriculture 98% 50.705 1% 772 1% 316 0% 62 0% 15 51.870 Industry 65% 14.432 14% 3.138 12% 2.589 4% 992 4% 957 22.108 Energy and water supply 88% 1.780 4% 89 4% 74 2% 35 2% 40 2.018 Building and construction 82% 19.496 11% 2.580 5% 1.291 1% 305 0% 118 23.790 Retail trade, hotel and
restaurant
81% 56.550 12% 8.127 6% 4.104 1% 804 1% 388 69.973 Transport 79% 11.929 10% 1.528 7% 1.026 2% 345 2% 278 15.106 Finance 88% 43.847 7% 3.392 4% 1.765 1% 493 1% 329 49.826 Public/personal services 65% 33.970 17% 8.767 11% 5.467 4% 2.307 3% 1.519 52.030 Sector not given 100% 199 1% 1 0% 0% 0% 200 Total workplaces 84% 232.908 8% 28.394 6% 16.632 2% 5.343 1% 3.644 286.921
---Number employed---
Agriculture 78% 91.981 9% 10.072 8% 9.249 3% 3.930 2% 2.753 117.985 Industry 9% 42.568 9% 43.021 16% 77.789 14% 68.322 53% 261.766 493.466 Energy and water supply 22% 4.238 6% 1.182 12% 2.241 13% 2.482 47% 9.175 19.318 Building and construction 33% 57.123 20% 34.314 21% 37.370 12% 20.415 15% 26.138 175.360 Retail trade, hotel and
restaurant
32% 169.444 21% 109.081 23% 119.469 10% 54.411 14% 75.711 528.116 Transport 18% 33.964 11% 20.636 17% 31.512 12% 23.503 42% 80.765 190.380 Finance 31% 95.718 14% 44.977 17% 52.503 11% 33.729 28% 86.375 313.302 Public/personal services 11% 107.994 12% 120.797 17% 163.283 16% 160.237 44% 430.119 982.430 Sector not given 96% 248 4% 11 0% 0% 0% 259 Total employees 21% 603.278 14% 384.091 17% 493.416 13% 367.029 34% 972.802 2.820.616
Table 2: The Concentration of Sawdust in the Air according to Number of Employees
Number of employees Total of sawdust mg/kbm
5-9 1,04 10-19 0,79 20-49 0,60 50-99 0,60 100-199 0,64 200-499 0,42
Table 3: Number of enterprises where the majority of the employees are covered by collective bargain June 1997
Size of workplace: Number of employees
10-19 empl. 20-49 empl. 50-99 empl. 100-199 empl.
200+ In average Sector:
Industry 68 81 92 94 97 79
Energy and water supply 58 88 93 88 93 80
Building and construction 92 96 98 96 93 94
Retail trade, hotel and restaurant 49 58 66 71 85 54
Transport 79 81 85 85 83 81
Finance 41 75 75 95 100 69
Public/personal services 78 78 78 80 82 78
In total 63 72 79 83 91 69
Table 4: Reported injuries and accidents in Denmark from 1994 to 1999
Number of cases 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Accidents reported to National Labour Protection Board 48.394 50.462 51.375 51.080 49.919 47.866 National Board of Industrial Injuries 25.270 25.605 23.911 23.131 20.143 19.802
Reported sickness due to work National Labour Protection Board 15.636 14.986 15.759 15.820 14.456 12.635 National Board of Industrial Injuries 15.550 15.857 15.655 15.608 14.201 13.242
Source: National Board of Industrial Injuries and National Labour Protection Board (1999)
Fig. 1: The rate for accidents per 1.000 employees. Reported from 1. Marts 1997 to 1. February 1998
Figur 2: Numbers of enterprises and employees overall 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Agriculture Industri
Building and construction Retail trade, hotel and restaurant
Transport
Public/personal services (incl. The financial sektor) Sector not given
In total
Numbers of enterprises and employees
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 1-9 empl. 10-19 empl. 20-49 empl. 50-99 empl. 100+ empl. Size of enterprise Percentage of all Total Workplaces Total employees
Table 5: Number and Share of Enterprises and Employees According to Company Size in Denmark and the EU (incl. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) Number of enterprises/ Number of employees/ Company size Number of enterprises in the EU Number of enterprises in Denmark Share of enterprises in the EU Share of enterprises in Denmark Number of employees in the EU Number of employees in Denmark Share of employees in the EU Share of employees in Denmark Micro enterprises (1-9) 17.695.000 232.908 92,89 % 84 % 37.960.000 603.278 32,99 % 21 % Small enterprises (10-49) 1.150.000 45.026 6,04 % 14 % 21.920.000 877.507 19,05 31 % SEE in total 18.845.000 277934 98,92 98 59.880.000 1.480.785 52,03 52
Data have not been available in Denmark on the following: 1.3 Selected economic indicators for SMEs
1.5 Number of SMEs subscribing to employers' association 1.7 Absenteeism due to sickness in SMEs