Title: Occupational health and safety awareness in micro and small enterprises in select sectors of West Burdwan, West Bengal: an empirical assessment

Authors: Manidipa DasGupta; Sourav Sarkar

Addresses: Department of Commerce, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, India ' Department of Commerce, The University of Burdwan, Burdwan, India

Abstract: Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) generate employment opportunities and thus promote livelihood standard for grass root level having no/nominal techno-economic strength. But due to participants' lack of skill to handle complex machinery jobs and no/nominal awareness of health-hygiene issues in workplace, occupational hazards often occurred there which is product and sector-specific. Literature supports that the perceptions of participants in maintaining OH&S awareness in MSEs depend on individuals' demographic features. In this paper, attempt has been made to highlight on the variation in perception on OH&S factors due to demographic features of the participants. To serve this issue, a micro empirical assessment is pursued on select sectors of West Burdwan and first-aid facility, drinking water, jobsite inspections, etc. seemed to have maximum relevancy in maintaining OH&S awareness there. MSEs, therefore, should adopt provision to promote OH&S awareness considering the requirements of the sector and different socio-demographics of the participants.

Keywords: occupational health and safety; OH&S; awareness; micro and small enterprises; MSEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2022.122728

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2022 Vol.25 No.3, pp.323 - 346

Received: 20 Jul 2020
Accepted: 14 Feb 2021
Published online: 09 May 2022 *

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