#E0093 Connecting small and medium-sized enterprises to occupational health information in Japan

Connecting small and medium-sized enterprises to occupational health information in Japan

Small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) in Japan lag behind larger firms in adopting occupational health (OH) measures, partly because managers cannot easily find or understand useful information. To address this gap, researchers from the Japan Society for Occupational Health published a collection of EH “good practices” (GP) on a dedicated website in 2022. However, most SME owners do not seek out the GP site on their own.

The researchers recruited 65 support organizations and professionals of various types and sizes from SMEs. The intervention commenced in May 2023. The authors provided a message template encouraging SMEs to visit the GP website, which support organizations and professionals were asked to send to their associated SMEs via email, websites, or as documents on separate days. They confirmed the intervention dates for each organization and professional and categorized them by type. Before the intervention period and during it, the researchers tracked the number of times the GP website was accessed.

The researchers found that although access was minimal before the baseline, it increased approximately eightfold over five months, reaching 50-100 visits per day. The study highlights that sending messages to SMEs through their support organizations and professionals significantly increased access to OH information. This is the first study to demonstrate the effectiveness of support organizations and professionals in promoting OH information for SMEs.

The findings indicate that various support organizations and professionals played a crucial role in enhancing access to OH information. Outreach efforts should not be limited to OH service organizations; engaging economic and other professional organizations could have a substantial impact on disseminating OH information to SMEs. A multichannel approach that includes diverse support organizations and professionals may be beneficial for promoting information to SMEs. Therefore, expanding these networks is essential.

Link to original journal article:
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/eohp/7/1/7_2024-0014/_article

Title of the paper:
Promoting occupational health information in small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan

Authors:
Teppei Imai, Noriko Nishikido, Jiro Moriguchi, Sho Kondo, Hayato Terada, Akiko Saito, Eiji Shibata, Satoko Shimamoto, Yasuaki Jikumaru, Tamotsu Sugawara, Kuniaki Seiji, Masaji Tabata, Hiroto Nakadaira, Toshiyuki Hara, Mitsuo Hinoue, Izumi Matsumoto, Rie Narai, Hideyuki Takayama, Yoto Taguchi, Hiroko Makimoto

DOI:
10.1539/eohp.2024-0014