Recent research (Hasle et al., 2012b) suggests that it is necessary
to develop a better understanding of how small enterprise
owner-managers gain their identity from their enterprise and
how this, in itself, influences their safety management practices.
Hasle et al. (2012b) suggest that because they get their identity
from their enterprise, owner-managers try to avoid responsibility
for injuries and illnesses. In preference they are inclined to transferthe ‘responsibility’ to the employees because they want to maintain
good relations within their enterprise and this is often
accepted by the employees through a social contract. They further
suggest that owner-managers generally have a positive attitude
towards creating a good work environment, but that it is a peripheral
issue with potential for difficult ethical and economic consequences.
In short, the relevance of employee participation in
safety management practices in SMEs is not well understood
(Masi et al., 2014). A better understanding of this aspect would
be useful topic for future research.