An assessment of occupational health and safety measures and performance of SMEs: An empirical investigation

•Assessment of Occupational Health and Safety Measures (OHSMs) in SMEs.•Relationship between Occupational Health and Safety Measures (OHSMs) and performance of SMEs.•Impact and role of Occupational Health and Safety Measures (OHSMs) on/in the performance of SMEs. An empirical study was undertaken to identify the relationship between occupational health and safety measures (OHSMs) and performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Survey data was collected from 35 SMEs located at S.I.T.E. Kotri, Sindh Pakistan, through questionnaire. Appropriate sampling of the collected data was carried out and analyzed in two stages using SPSS (statistical package for social sciences) software. Initially, reliability of the data was checked with the help of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, which was 0.80; and that reflects good and consistent. Afterward, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and then inferential statistics techniques (Pearson correlation and simple regression) were used. Results revealed a moderate positive correlation among OHSMs and performance of SMEs. This reflects that OHSMs were not properly carried out which influenced the performance of SMEs. Therefore; Pakistani SMEs need to pay a serious attention towards proper implementation of the OHSMs.