A study conducted by YouGov on behalf of workplace safety company A-Safe found that more than a third of manual workers feel that their employer puts profit above worker safety. In addition, nearly ten per cent of those surveyed said they feared for their safety every day while at work.
More than 2000 manual and semi-skilled workers took part in the survey, including drivers, fitters and machine operators. The researchers found that 37% of respondents felt that profits were placed before people when it came to putting the correct health and safety measures in place.
Furthermore, 33% felt that there was such focus on creating Covid-secure environments that other health and safety measures had suffered and been overlooked recently.
24% of the survey respondents said they didn’t trust their employer to protect its workforce and didn’t feel their employer was committed to keeping them safe. Overall, 9% of the respondents admitted they didn’t feel safe in general when they are at work.
Discussing the survey results, James Smith, co-owner and director of A-SAFE said: “I know that for some businesses health and safety can be seen as a chore with red tape, ticking boxes and endless bureaucracy. But when there are failures, the results can be catastrophic – lives can be changed and families devastated in an instant. It is time this hidden cost of going to work is highlighted, and that is what this survey and our campaign aims to do.
“Protecting the health and safety of employees is an essential part of a company’s risk management and must be led by its leadership team. People are at their most vulnerable in industrial workplace environments, where vehicles and pedestrians are working in proximity, and yet more could be done to protect employees at work.” Find out more about A-Safe’s new campaign on their website: https://www.asafe.com/en-gb/news/a-safe-launch-new-global-safety-awareness-campaign/
At Eleksen, we couldn’t agree more with this viewpoint which is why we work with leading device partners such as GKD and SiteZone to give businesses a complete workforce safety solution that addresses proximity dangers through proximity warning systems. We also work with partners to offer gas and noise detection and even vital signs monitoring. Find out more here or contact us for more details about keeping your workforce safe on 01455 563 000 or email: eleksen.sales@eleksen.com.
