Project Status: Active

Creating a framework that meets the unique work health and safety needs of our small businesses.

Australia is dominated by small businesses, in fact 97% of business in Australia are small business with less that 20 employees.  Small businesses (4-19 employees) and micro-businesses (0-4 employees) face unique challenges when it comes to work health and safety (WHS). Small businesses have a higher rate of WHS incidents due to challenges unique to them like limited human resources, time limitations, difficulties in accessing WHS support training and sometimes a lack of awareness about WHS requirements.

What will the Centre do?

We have partnered with Verian to develop and validate interventions that specifically target the unique requirements of small and micro-businesses. We will do this through:

• Surveying small business owners.
• Through qualitative telephone interviews with culturally and linguistically diverse business owners.
• Conducting workshops with stakeholders and experts on existing interventions.
• Creating an intervention design based on theory of change.

By gaining insights into the experiences and perspectives on WHS from a range of participants, we will create a practical tool to improve WHS practices in small and micro-businesses and can be applied across various industries.

If you would like to take part in the study or test the tool, get in touch with us.

Want to know more?

To work with the Centre, or stay up to date with our research, head to our Engage with us page.

Further reading

Read our Rapid evidence assessment report here.