SMALL BUSINESS

Featured Resources

Small Business Safety Interventions that Work
For a number of years, the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation has provided grants to qualified small businesses to support the use of safety interventions in Ohio workplaces (the SafetyGRANT$ program). Participating employers reported information about the cost/benefit of the intervention. At this link, you will find 149 employer reports about different workplace equipment changes that have demonstrated positive safety and health results. Reports address a total of seventeen different risk factors (e.g., musculoskeletal) across eight industry sectors. There are also five "Success Story" videos.

Small Business Resource Guide
This guide is intended to help small business owners, employers, and managers deal with occupational safety and health concerns. Others involved with the small business community may also benefit from using this resource.

Worker Injury and Illness Average Incidence Rates by Industry and Establishment Size - 2009
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides these data annually (1994-2009). They are under the "Quartile Data" heading on this BLS page. Note that "establishment" means a location where economic activity is conducted. One firm or enterprise may operate multiple establishments. More information about these definitions. Also note that some researchers have attributed lower incidence rates for establishments with fewer than 10 employees to possible under-reporting.

OSHA Publications for Small Businesses
These publications cover general information such as “New Businesses Fact Sheet” and “Small Business Handbook” as well as information for specific hazards such as “Small Entity Compliance Guide for Hexavalent Chromium Standards” and “A Guide for Protecting Workers from Woodworking Hazards."

NIOSHTIC 2 Search

NIOSHTIC-2 search results on Small Business
NIOSHTIC-2 is a searchable bibliographic database of occupational safety and health publications, documents, grant reports, and journal articles supported in whole or in part by NIOSH.

NIOSH Publications

Identifying High-Risk Small Business Industries
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 99-107
NIOSH has prepared this report to characterize the risk of occupational injury, illness, and fatality in industries composed mostly of small business establishments.

Safety and Health Resource Guide for Small Businesses
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2003-100 (March 1998)
This Guide is intended to help small business owners, employers, and managers deal with occupational safety and health concerns. Others involved with the small business community may also benefit from using this resource.

Health Hazard Evaluations

Health Hazard Evaluations
HHE's are investigations done by NIOSH in response to concerns expressed by employees, employee representatives, or employers, to find out whether there is a health hazard to employees caused by hazardous exposures and conditions in the workplace.

• HHE Report No. HETA-2001-0537-2897, Sunset Strip Furniture Stripping, Huntington Beach, California [PDF - 409 KB]
• HHE Report No. HETA-2000-0013-2830, Venus and Mars, Orlando, Florida; Body Piercing by Bink, Tallahasse, Florida [PDF - 578 KB]
• HHE Report No. HETA-2001-0144-2867, Superior Label Systems, Mason, Ohio [PDF - 429 KB]
• HHE Report No. HETA-2001-0081-2877, Glass Masters Neon, Savannah, Georgia [PDF - 413 KB]

Other Resources

U.S. Small Business Administration
This site provides a wide range of information and resources for entrepeneurs who are starting and growing businesses. E-newsletters, free on-line training, business tools, and information about grant programs and other forms of assistance are included. One of their counseling services, the SCORE program (Service Corps of Retired Executives), provides entrepeneur education through over 10,000 retired executives organized in 374 chapters throughout the country. The chapter for Cincinnati, OH, Northern KY, and Southeast IN is in a pilot partnership with NIOSH Cincinnati operations.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Small Business site
This site provides access to the most popular materials for small businesses, from free on-site consultation to interactive computer software to technical information to easy-to-follow guides for specific OSHA standards. It also includes links to OSHA local offices and the Small Business Administration.