Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Dec;56(12):1442-51.
doi: 10.1002/ajim.22263. Epub 2013 Sep 20.

A model for occupational safety and health intervention diffusion to small businesses

Raymond C Sinclair  1 , Thomas R Cunningham, Paul A Schulte
Affiliations

A model for occupational safety and health intervention diffusion to small businesses

Raymond C Sinclair et al. Am J Ind Med. 2013 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Smaller businesses differ from their larger counterparts in having higher rates of occupational injuries and illnesses and fewer resources for preventing those losses. Intervention models developed outside the United States have addressed the resource deficiency issue by incorporating intermediary organizations such as trade associations.

Methods: This paper extends previous models by using exchange theory and by borrowing from the diffusion of innovations model. It emphasizes that occupational safety and health (OSH) organizations must understand as much about intermediary organizations as they do about small businesses. OSH organizations ("initiators") must understand how to position interventions and information to intermediaries as added value to their relationships with small businesses. Examples from experiences in two midwestern states are used to illustrate relationships and types of analyses implied by the extended model.

Results: The study found that intermediary organizations were highly attuned to providing smaller businesses with what they want, including OSH services. The study also found that there are opinion leader organizations and individual champions within intermediaries who are key to decisions and actions about OSH programming.

Conclusions: The model places more responsibility on both initiators and intermediaries to develop and market interventions that will be valued in the competitive small business environment where the resources required to adopt each new business activity could always be used in other ways. The model is a candidate for empirical validation, and it offers some encouragement that the issue of sustainable OSH assistance to small businesses might be addressed. Am. J. Ind. Med. 56:1442-1451, 2013. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Keywords: intervention model; occupational health; occupational safety; small business.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors performed this work as employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are no known conflicts of interest. All authors are government employees, and we have no copy rights.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Model for intervention research in small enterprises [Hasle and Limborg, 2006] used with permission.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Schematic simple model of the programme theory chain [Olsen et al., 2012] used with permission.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Extended model for small business OSH intervention research.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. American Chamber of Commerce Executives. Chambers of commerce: The basics. 2009 Retrieved May 7, 2013, from http://www.acce.org/index.php?src=documents&srctype=download&id=92&categ....
    1. Barbeau E, Roelofs C, Youngstrom R, Sorensen G, Stoddard A, LaMontagne AD. Assessment of occupational safety and health programs in small business. Am J Ind Med. 2004;45:371–379. - PubMed
    1. Bowen CM, Stanton M, Manno M. Using diffusion of innovations theory to implement the confusion assessment method for the intensive care unit. J Nurs Care Qual. 2012;27:139–145. - PubMed
    1. Brosseau LM, Parker DL, Lazovich D, Milton T, Dugan S. Designing intervention effectiveness studies for occupational health and safety: The Minnesota wood dust study. Am J Ind Med. 2002;41:54–61. - PubMed
    1. Brownson RC, Ballew P, Dieffenderfer B, Haire-Joshu D, Heath GW, Kreuter MW, Myers BA. Evidence-based interventions to promote physical activity: What contributes to dissemination by state health departments. Am J Prev Med. 2007;33:S66–S73. quiz S74–S68. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources