Environmental and health management in small and medium size enterprises

Workers and employees are increasingly exposed in the workplace to chemical compounds and substances that are potentially toxic; for most of these compounds, no information exist regarding effects on human health. As one of the main employment generation sources, Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs) host a significant proportion of the environmental hazards currently present in the workplace. However, only a negligible amount of research or information has been completed and collected concerning SMEs environmental and health performance. SMEs possess environmental perceptions and an environmental and health behavior conditioned by the same qualitative attributes inherent to the small firm, from the kin relationships among the business members to the social role of the small company in a given community. With a prominent economic and social role in the society, SMEs are an important and still underestimated link in the environment-to-health chain. This thesis proposes an Environmental and Health Management model for SMEs. The model considers the convergence of medical, environmental, labor, and safety approaches and explores their interrelationship in three main components: the environmental conditions in the workplace, the (individuals) health conditions in the workplace, and the work-related conditions in the workplace. Nine fields of knowledge (Industrial Safety, Occupational Health, Occupational Medicine, Epidemiology, Industrial Hygiene, Toxicology, Environmental Health, Environmental Management, and Risk assessment) are considered as useful tools and approaches whose interaction may help SMEs to shape or modify their environmental perceptions and behavior, as well as may provide a general framework for the regulations applicable to SMEs.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Arredondo, Juan C. (Juan Carlos Arredondo Brun), 1974-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lawrence Susskind.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/17718

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/17718