High safety and health standards benefit SMEs

'If you run a company, especially a small one, you may be misled into thinking that securing safety and health is difficult and costly', says Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, Director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. 'In fact it is the other way round as the business cases we have looked into demonstrate that higher safety and health standards lead to higher productivity. This is the message we would like to send to companies across Europe.’

Maive Rute, Commission’s SME Envoy and Director responsible for the Euro Info Centres network confirms an increasing interest among SMEs in safety and health issues: 'Small companies often find it difficult to 'translate' and absorb new regulations into their reality. By pooling the resources and expertise of Euro Info Centres and the network run by the European Agency, we are better equipped to address their practical needs.'

The new feature offers an overview of recent studies into business aspects of occupational safety and health, such as Corporate Social Responsibility, impact on productivity, or economic incentives for safety and health.

But it has first of all a practical dimension. Companies, especially SMEs, can access a collection of good practice examples, which they may easily and economically implement in their workplaces. A directory of national sub-sites provides access to safety and health regulations at the national level. And through the Euro Info Centres network companies can find consultants in their region.

The new resource is available at http://osha.europa.eu/business.

Ends

Press enquiries: Marek Kosarczyn, Press Officer, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, email: kosarczyn@osha.europa.eu, tel: +34 94 479 43 86.

Other enquiries: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Gran Via 33, E-48009 Bilbao, Spain, email: information@osha.europa.eu, fax: +34 94 479 4383.

Notes to editors:

1. The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work was set up by the European Union to help meet the information needs in the field of occupational safety and health. Based in Bilbao, Spain, the Agency aims to improve the lives of people at work by stimulating the flow of technical, scientific and economic information between all those involved in occupational safety and health issues.

2. The Euro Info Centres network in the largest Community Business Support Network. With more than 300 centres and 340 relays, each EIC can count on partners all over the continent, and benefit therefore from local expertise. EICs are the result of a partnership between the European Commission and the local, regional or national organisations that host them. One of EICs core activities consists in informing enterprises about EU matters. EICs directly answer about 360,000 queries from SMEs every year. They concern a wide range of issues, such as business co-operation, Commission programmes and funding, and general EU matters.