Introduction:

Portugal is a country in which more than 90% of Small/Medium-sized Companies represent the total business fabric. In 2017 the country presented the greatest concerns regarding the prevalence of occupational diseases that end up influencing work.

Occupational Health can make an important contribution to reversing or minimizing this situation in small/medium-sized companies, through the promotion of health and well-being of workers.

Methods:

Systematic literature review, conducted by PRISMA guidelines and using the PICo strategy. Bibliographic research was carried out in the Pub MED and Web of Science databases, during the months of May and June 2022, using the keywords: “occupational health” AND “enterprises” AND “benefits”.

Results:

Six articles were selected that analyzed the benefits of having an internal occupational health service. From the analysis of the selected studies, it was possible to identify that the implementation of an internal ocupational service contributes to preventing illness and promoting worker health, productivity, well-being and motivation at work, which also contributes to better employee and community health.

Conclusion:

The topic under analysis requires more in-depth studies, with objective indicators, so that can be obtained data in a more robust way. From the data collected, it was possible to identify a set of benefits associated with the existence of an internal Occupational Health Service in a small/medium-sized company: promotion of a health culture at work, improvement in safety performance, reduction of costs in work accidents and insurance, motivating workers to perform positively, less absenteeism, higher productivity, improved quality, lower healthcare costs, attracting better talent/improved public image, lower turnover, less waste, higher return on investment, increased efficiency and increased economic profitability.

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