Safety Seen in Small Numbers

Potential danger lurks in the bustling kitchen at Susina Bakery & Cafe. Staff members at the small Los Angeles eatery often haul heavy bags of sugar and flour. Complicated kitchen equipment whirs. It’s not hard to imagine getting injured.

But for owner Jenna Turner, employee safety is a top priority. Training, supervision and constant communication are part of her safety philosophy -- one reason, she said, that her 31-employee firm has had only two injuries requiring a doctor’s visit in its 3 1/2 years of operation.

“We work in a very small space, so it’s very important that my staff know how to handle themselves in the kitchen and move around safely,” Turner said. “I’m not willing to compromise. I want to make sure that my staff stays healthy.”

Researchers, consultants and safety regulators say it makes sense that Turner’s bakery is a safe workplace. New research released this week by the Rand Corp., based on government data, comes to a conclusion that many may find surprising: Small, single-site firms, where an owner may be present and communication is constant, are among the safest places to work.

That contradicts common assumptions that small firms, lacking deep resources or safety specialists, would skimp on injury prevention.

Smaller companies, experts say, have a special dynamic that works in their favor: close relationships that heighten the responsibility an employer feels toward her employees.

“It’s the little companies that go the extra mile,” said Gary Gagliardi, a senior consultant at Safety Resources, an Indianapolis-based consulting firm. “When one of their people gets hurt, it becomes very personal.”

The report by Rand, a Santa Monica-based think tank, looked at more than 17,000 workplace fatalities investigated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration from 1992 to 2001. Across most industries, single work sites operated by companies with fewer than 50 employees had lower fatality rates than similarly sized sites run by larger employers with up to 999 workers.

For example, a restaurant chain with three locations of 15 employees each would tend to be less safe than one restaurant with 45 employees.

Large firms, those with 1,000 employees or more, also rated high on safety, presumably because they have the resources to employ safety consultants or create an in-house safety department.

Although Rand studied only fatalities, these safety patterns tend to apply to injuries as well, experts say.

“Single-establishment firms are fairly safe,” said Christopher Nelson, co-author of the study. “The problem is small establishments within middle-sized firms.”

When small businesses expand into mid-size firms and add locations, the complexities of management can overshadow workplace safety, Nelson said.

But such problems can be avoided. Emphasizing safety training early on can help establish a culture of safety, said Josh Shaw, vice president of Ergonomic & Safety Services, a consulting company in New Stanton, Pa.

Companies expose themselves to dangerous situations primarily because they don’t take the time to identify hazards, said Dean Fryer, a spokesman for the California Department of Industrial Relations.

At smaller businesses operating in a single location, “the owner on site may be more inclined to see something immediately and fix it,” Fryer said. But when you’ve got a hired manager on site, “they may not be aware that a specific hazard exists.”

Another crucial factor: constant communication.

An owner of a small firm can quickly brief employees when an injury occurs, but managers overseeing several sites must make an extra effort to inform the organization about problems at one site to prevent similar accidents at another, said Ron Miller, manager of safety training and consultation at the National Safety Council in Itasca, Ill.

Companies concerned about hazards can request an inspection from a consultant at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said Richard Fairfax, director of OSHA’s enforcement programs. The free, confidential service helps employers identify risks before the OSHA inspectors show up.

Aside from keeping employees happy and healthy, workplace safety can help a company avoid stumbling financially. Although companies can be fined by OSHA if conditions are unsafe, insurance rate hikes after accidents can be even more expensive, Gagliardi said.

“If you’re caught, you’ll get a fine, but insurance costs stay,” he said. “That doesn’t go away as quickly.”