Barriers to occupational health and safety management in micro and small enterprises: a multi-level analysis from a developing country context

Abstract

Occupational health and safety (OHS) in micro and small enterprises (MSE) remains a critical challenge, given their disproportionate exposure to occupational risks and limited capacity to implement structured health and safety management practices. Although previous studies have identified several constraints affecting OHS in MSE, the literature remains characterised by a limited focus on context-specific barriers, particularly in developing countries, and by a lack of multi-level analytical approaches incorporating multiple stakeholders. This study aims to identify the barriers to implementing OHS management in MSE, using the food industry sector in Bahia, Brazil, as the empirical context. A qualitative approach was adopted, based on semi-structured interviews with representatives of employers’ and workers’ unions, followed by inductive content analysis. The results reveal six principal barriers: institutional fragility, financial resource constraints, low managerial prioritisation of OHS, weak union articulation, dependence on external technical support, and inadequate worker involvement. These barriers are distributed across five interrelated levels, institutional, organisational, inter-organisational, technical support, and worker, highlighting their systemic and interconnected nature. Among these, institutional fragility, weak union articulation, and dependence on external technical support emerged as the most prominent. The findings demonstrate that barriers to OHS implementation in MSE are shaped not only by internal organisational factors but also by broader institutional and relational conditions. This study contributes to the literature by proposing a multi-level analytical framework that integrates structural, organisational, and behavioural dimensions, as well as by providing empirical evidence from a developing country context.