CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON HEALTH AND SAFETY IN SMALL BUSINESSES

HSE press release: E182:03 - 26 September 2003

The main cultural influence on health and safety attitudes and behaviour in small businesses is organisational culture according to a new study commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The new research sought to identify the role of cultural influences on health and safety attitudes and behaviour in small and micro-enterprises and related issues concerning channels of communication and the role of the HSE. It found that the organisational culture that typifies many small businesses reflected less formal approaches to management, the preference of owner/managers for autonomy and the closeness of employer/employee relations in small businesses.

The research, conducted by Middlesex University Business School, considered the impact on health and safety of cultural influences on employers and workers in small businesses. The research considered how receptive a small business was and what channels of communication could best be used to more widely disseminate health and safety information to small businesses, including ethnic minority businesses (EMBs). It also looked at the impact of cultural influences on employer/employee expectations of the HSE.

The findings of this research will help inform how HSE might better work to reach small businesses and in particular ethnic minority small business owners and managers.

The report identified that a less formal approach to management, preferences of owners or managers for autonomy and the closeness of employee relations in small businesses were important factors. In some ethnic minority businesses, ethnic
background can be an important second order influence.

Other influences can be previous management experience, educational or skills level, and gender. This
cultural influence, however, needs to be understood in the context of other characteristics, notably the resource constraints faced by small enterprises.

Interestingly this report suggests that health and safety inspectors are currently the most commonly used and preferred source of information and advice for most small businesses, in contrast to some other evidence on preferred sources. Other channels of communication, in some areas and communities, include ethnic minority intermediaries who can help the dissemination process with EMBs. These intermediaries include organisations such as the Black Business Association, Birmingham Asian Business Association, Coventry Bangladeshi Centre and Leicester African/Caribbean Business Association. The report also found that general sector based associations appear to have greater potential for more widespread influence with EMB enterprises.

Cultural influences on health and safety attitudes and behaviour in small businesses Research Report 150 is available on HSE's website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr150.htm

Notes for editors

1. There are 3.7 million businesses in the UK, 99% of which are small businesses (i.e. employ less than 50 staff).

2. In small manufacturing workplaces the rate of fatal and amputation injury is around double those in large workplaces.

3. The authors of the report are Dr Ian Vickers, Dr Robert Baldock, Professor David Smallbone, and Professor Philip James, all of whom are based at the Middlesex University Business School.

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