Safety and health at work is everyone’s concern. It’s good for you. It’s good for business. Risk assessment in SMEs: challenges and opportunities Presentation of OiRA Lorenzo Munar

2 Risk Assessment …  is the cornerstone of the European approach to prevent occupational accidents and ill health.  Is the start of the health and safety management approach – if not done well or not done at all, the appropriate preventive measures are unlikely to be identified or put in place.  has become a familiar concept for organising prevention at the workplace (since the adoption of the Framework Directive 89/391).  is carried out by hundreds of thousands of companies all over Europe but remains a pending issue for many, many others (especially the smaller ones)

3 The challenging context 92,4% of enterprises in the EU28 have less than 10 employees (the companies with less than 50 represent 98,8%) and their number is rising (at EU level) 31,7% of workers are employed in micro and small companies MicroSmall MediumSMEsLargeTotal Number of enterprises Number19,969,3381,378, ,64821,571,36043,51721,614,908 %92.4%6.4% 1.0%99.8%0.2%100% Employment Number38,629,01227,353,600 22,860,79288,843,46444,053,576132,897,040 %29.1%2.6% 17.2%66.9%33.1%100% Source: Eurostat, National Statistical Offices and DIW Econ

4 Size of establishment and health and safety management composite score

5 Chemical risk taken into account in the occupational RA document (DUER) following the size of the enterprise (example based on the companies from the car repair sector) No of staff members * DRA: documented risk assessment Source: ministère chargé du Travail

6 Reasons for not carrying out risk assessments regularly Not necessary, no major problems; too complex; lacking expertise % establishments, EU27 Note: establishments where risk assessment or similar measures are NOT carried out Source: ESENER

7 OiRA – The context Over the years and despite the efforts, the task of assessing the risk is not universally spread and the quality of RA needs to be improved (especially among micro & small businesses) A new generation of tools (IT-based, online, digital, …) has emerged The use of internet and devices like computers, mobile phones, tablets has increased Interactive risks assessment tools have been developed targeting micro and small companies −RI&E – OiRA (The Netherlands – EU-15 MS) −Besmart (Ireland) −Evalua-t (Spain) −Several tools (UK) These tools are not presented as the SOLUTION, but as an opportunity to support - within the limits of any tool (traditional or online) - the effort carried out by public institutions and social partners to improve OSH among micro and small companies

8 OiRA overview  OIRA Partners in 15 EU countries (most of them Ministries/Labour Inspectorates) collaborating with other countries/institutions who developed their own online RA tool (HSA, HSE, INSHT)  EU sectoral social partners also involved in OiRA (5 OiRA tools developed at EU level in the framework of the EU sectoral social dialogue)  Common platform / software available in 18 languages  OiRA tools Current status: 62 OiRA tools in 13 countries (and 30 under development) End 2014: OiRA tools in 15 EU countries  OiRA users accounts created (03/12/14):  Number of RA created: (03/12/14):

9 OiRA: a EU community working together  Sharing information/knowledge/Good Practice/photos  Common perception / general agreement about the need to cooperate at EU level in the development of such tools −Economy of scale (especially in this period of crisis) −Added value of the OiRA community −Possibility to establish new contacts/collaborations

10 Dissemination facilitated through Internet Evolving content (“easy-immediate” update) Access to other sources of information/documentation (through the links) Possibility to monitor the development and use of such tools (example from Latvia, France,..) −Is the tool used? −Are end-users happy? −Have our promotion activities had an impact? Empower micro and small companies to manage OSH (in-house or in a more autonomous way and promote complementarity with external services) Opportunities related to OiRA (interactive tools in general):

11 Increase risk awareness (and risk prevention in general) – OiRA tools used for training / information purposes Set up new partnerships (or stimulate the existing ones) in the task of developing / promoting OiRA tools Use existing communication platforms (Twitter, Linked-In, Facebook, …) to promote the tools Use OiRA as a means / as a resource in a larger programme / strategy Opportunities related to OiRA (interactive tools in general):

12 Thank you for your attention