An experimental preventive action for SMEs: A Trojan horse for a cross-learning scheme

Abstract : As regards Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are hard to reach by the health and safety inspection.. Among the remarkable actions which have been implemented in France, information meetings made for every branch of industry can be taken as an example. All these supports have increased the level of awareness of the OHS issue in SMEs but have also reached their limits in terms of effective assistance and generalization. This paper therefore aims at presenting a collective preventive action which involved a research laboratory, a chamber of commerce, OHS advisors as well as the labour inspectorate. This pilot action designed for managers-owners of small businesses under 50 employees allowed volunteers to asses their level of compliance with OHS regulations thanks to a software tool. At the end of this action a qualitative survey has been carried out to asses the relevance of this experimentation.