Peculiarities of Occupational Risk Assessment in Small Enterprises

Abstract

Due to their economic and productive instability, the small businesses very rarely become the objects of control by the state inspection services, in particular, in the field of ensuring occupational safety. Newly created enterprises are provided by the state with tax benefits and other types of state preferences aimed at support and development. Under various government programs, small businesses can be exempted from any inspections for up to three years. At the same time, due to concessions, the occupational safety system in these enterprises often suffers, such a superior attitude can lead to the following consequences: complete lack of understanding and responsibility for occupational safety in their organization; getting used to and subsequently ignoring the rules of occupational health and safety; gaps in knowledge in matters of ensuring the safety of their employees; increasing risks to the life and health of the employees. The authors of the article came to the conclusion that in order to eradicate the above consequences, one should start with the latter, namely, the study of risks for employees in small enterprises. The purpose of the article is to analyze the existing methods for assessing production risks for the life and health of employees and their application in small businesses entities. It is determined that the risk assessment system has improved in recent years. A large number of different methodologies and methods of risk analysis was developed and practically proven, but at the same time it was found that their use in small enterprises due to their characteristics is not always possible. As a result, a methodology was recommended for assessing production risk in the small enterprises synthesized based on other methods. This methodology considers the quantitative indicators of dangerous actions, hazardous working conditions and their ratio to the number of implemented events based on the severity of the harm caused to health. The proposed risk analysis methodology was practically tested in several small enterprises with various types of activities and confirmed its efficiency.