"Small Businesses and Workplace Fatality Risk: An Exploratory Analysis "
John Mendeloff, Christopher Nelson, Kilkon Ko, Amelia Haviland
Kauffman-RAND Center for the Study of Small Business and Regulation, May 2006
Small workplaces that are a business' only location are among the safest places to work, according to a recent RAND Corporation study.
The finding provides an important exception to research that workers in small workplaces are at greater risk of fatal accidents than those in larger workplaces, according to an examination of federal workplace fatality reports from 1992 to 2001.
Researchers found that fatal accidents were most common at small worksites with fewer than 20 workers that were operated by middle-sized businesses – defined as those with 20 to 999 employees. Fatality rates at these worksites were 2 to 5 times higher than similar worksites operated by either small or large businesses.
Researchers identified trends involving both the size of the individual worksite (number of workers at a single location) and the overall number of workers a business employs at multiple locations.
The study found that the smallest worksites operated by a business with multiple worksites are likely to be the riskiest. For example, among manufacturing businesses with 1,000 or more workers, the fatality rate at worksites with fewer than 20 workers was 3 times higher than worksites with 20 to 49 workers and 8 times higher than locations with 1,000 or more workers.
Similar patterns were seen for businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees and for most other industries including transportation, public utilities, wholesale, and services, according to the study.
Researchers say the study's findings are important because businesses with fewer than 100 employees play a vital role in the U.S. economy, employing more than half of all American workers.
The research was funded by the Kauffman Foundation and carried out by the Kauffman-RAND Center for the Study of Small Business and Regulation, which is a part of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice.
