Make Safety a Priority: Why Workplace Health and Safety Can No Longer Be Ignored

Taking care of employees is no longer seen as just a company bonus, but a company responsibility. Employers in construction, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and hospitality depend more than ever on deskless/deadline employees to keep their businesses running. However, these workers are closest to danger and are often the most neglected in terms of communication, training, and safety.

Most global employees are unhappy because employers continue to spend money on productivity tools and software while neglecting the most important people on the team - the deskless workers. All of these issues are on a dangerous collision course for employers as their organizations are ignoring potential accidents, regulatory issues, loss of reputation, and disengagement of entire workforces.

A recent industry report named 'Feedback from the Field' by SafetyCulture gives us more than enough information to understand the real and undeniable problems of these deskless workers so organizations can rethink their approach to and the management of employee health, safety, and welfare.

Who Are Frontline Workers and Why Do They Matter?

Hands-on employees, as opposed to desk employees, are known as frontline workers. The following professions are included:

• Construction Workers
• Manufacturing Workers
• Health Workers
• Warehouses and Logistics Workers
• Hospitality and Facility Management Workers

These employees are vital to the continuation of businesses. However, frontline workers are also more susceptible to the following types of risks:

• Risks of manual handling
• Risks of equipment in the workplace
• Slips, falls, and trips
• Chemicals or biological exposure
• Risks from long shifts and fatigue

Frontline employees are often excluded from operational and safety improvements in regard to their critical functions.

What the Research Reveals: Operational Issues Are Widespread

According to SafetyCulture’s research, 65% of frontline workers report encountering operational or safety issues at least once a month, many on a weekly basis. These issues are not minor inconveniences; they often involve:

• Unsafe equipment
• Inadequate procedures
• Poorly maintained work environments
• Delayed corrective actions

Even more concerning is that only 45% of these issues are resolved within an acceptable timeframe. This delay allows risks to accumulate, increasing the likelihood of incidents and injuries.

The Business Cost of Ignoring Safety Challenges

Safety failures do not only affect employees one at a time; the consequences are greater and affect everybody at the workplace. According to the report, 87% of frontline employees think that their workplaces are only operating at partial productivity or are not sure if the workplace is productive at all.

This belief indicates that there are also greater issues within the organization, including:

• Processes that are not efficient
• Lack of strong safety/control leadership
• Low safety/control employee engagement
• Safety/control systems that are reactive instead of proactive

From the organization’s perspective, a weak safety system leads to:

• Increased downtime due to accidents
• Increased insurance costs
• Non-compliance with safety systems
• Increased difficulty in employee retention
• Decreased trust employees have in the organization

For organizations in the UK and internationally, health and safety frameworks add to these expectations. A strong track record of safe operations is expected by employees, regulators, and clients alike.

Communication Gaps: A Silent Safety Threat

A lack of communication is one of the most underreported causes of workplace accidents. Frontline employees work in fast-paced environments where every second counts. Clear direction and quick communication are essential for safety and success.

Research shows communication failures most frequently occur because of:

• Overreliance on verbal instructions
• Multicultural workforces with language barriers
• Deskless staff missing critical safety updates
• Inconsistent safety orientations

Procedural updates are often skipped, warnings are ignored, and over time this creates an unsafe work environment.

Training Gaps and Their Direct Link to Injuries

Training is one of the most effective ways to prevent workplace accidents, yet SafetyCulture research highlights serious gaps:

• 30% of frontline employees received their last meaningful safety training over a year ago
• 13% have never received any form of safety training

This creates a safety training vacuum. Over half of frontline employees (54%) believe workplace injuries are preventable through:

• Improved task-specific safety training
• Clearer work instructions
• More frequent safety training

Key Takeaway:
Undertrained employees are not just a liability; they are at significantly higher risk of injury.

Earning a health and safety credential equips workers with the skills to identify hazards, implement safer workflows, and manage emergencies systematically. Employers who invest in such training gain a skilled, confident, and safety-aware workforce.

Safety Is Not Optional – It’s a Worker Priority

One of the most powerful findings challenges a common assumption. Despite rising living costs, 70% of frontline workers stated they would choose safety over higher pay when considering alternative employment.

This reinforces a fundamental truth: employees do not want to work faster at the cost of their health; they want to work safer. Organizations that fail to prioritize safety risk losing skilled workers to competitors with stronger safety commitments.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) – Worker Safety Statistics

Setting the Foundation for Safer Workplaces

This section makes one thing clear: frontline worker safety is both a moral responsibility and a strategic business imperative. Operational issues, communication failures, and training gaps are interconnected challenges that demand a structured, research-driven response.

In the next section, we will examine:

• Why leadership failures undermine safety
• How weak safety culture develops
• What stops organisations from acting
• How injuries can be prevented through better systems

Why Safety Systems Fail: Leadership Gaps, Training Deficits, and Cultural Blind Spots

When it comes to workplace health and safety, many organisations might claim to prioritise it, but the outcomes tell a different story. There are policies, procedures, documented systems, and compliance checklists in place, yet things still go wrong. Why?

Numerous studies show that safety failures are rarely caused by a lack of rules. Instead, they result from gaps in leadership, training, and safety culture. These systemic weaknesses undermining safety performance across industries are highlighted in SafetyCulture’s “Feedback from the Field” report.

When Safety Is Not Modelled from the Top

One of the report’s most striking findings is that 42% of frontline employees identified ineffective management as a key barrier to both operational success and safety improvement.

Leadership behaviour directly shapes how safety is perceived on the ground. When safety is treated as an administrative task rather than a shared responsibility, employees notice. The absence of visible leadership commitment sends a clear message.

Common Leadership Failures in Workplace Safety

A lack of effective safety leadership often appears in the following ways:

• Reported hazards are ignored or downplayed
• Safety rules are selectively enforced or overlooked
• Productivity is prioritised over safe work practices
• Limited management presence in operational areas
• Incidents are not followed up and lessons are not learned

Without decisive leadership, unsafe practices quickly become normalised. This engrains a passive or reactive safety culture where action is taken only after incidents occur.

Research Insight:
Strong safety cultures are associated with visible leadership engagement, direct workforce interaction, and clear accountability for safety at all levels.

Communication Breakdown: A Critical Weakness in Safety Systems

Effective communication is the backbone of any health and safety program. However, 39% of frontline workers report poor communication as the main barrier to safe operations.

In high-risk environments, ineffective communication poses the same level of danger as faulty equipment.

Frontline workers identify the following communication failures:

• Deskless workers missing safety updates
• Over-reliance on verbal instructions
• Outdated or unclear work procedures
• Insufficient guidance during emergency task changes
• Language barriers in multinational teams

When communication fails, workers rely on assumptions or past experience—both of which significantly increase the risk of error.

Training Gaps: The Hidden Driver Behind Preventable Injuries

SafetyCulture’s research reveals alarming gaps in training quality and frequency, even in high-risk industries.

What the Data Shows:

• 30% of workers last received meaningful safety training over a year ago
• 13% report never receiving effective safety training
• 54% believe injuries could be prevented with better training and clearer instruction

These figures highlight a clear disconnect between organisational responsibility and frontline reality.

Why One-Time Training Is Not Enough

Safety training becomes ineffective when it is:

• Delivered only during induction
• Rarely updated
• Too general or theoretical

As workplaces evolve with new equipment and hazards, training must evolve too. Without continuous updates, safety knowledge quickly becomes outdated.

Industry Evidence:
Organisations with regularly refreshed training programs experience lower injury rates and higher compliance. The Safety Culture report highlights that compliance-based safety only works when monitored, whereas strong safety cultures sustain safe behaviour even when no one is watching.

The report also shows that 31% of frontline workers feel psychologically unsafe raising concerns. This lack of psychological safety discourages reporting and allows unsafe practices to persist.

Signs of a Weak Safety Culture

• Fear of blame for reporting incidents
• Near misses going unreported
• Safety discussions only after accidents
• Employees feeling their input is ignored

In such environments, hazards only become visible after harm has occurred.

Traits of an Effective Safety Culture

• Open, blame-free reporting
• Employee empowerment in safety decisions
• Active learning from incidents
• Visible leadership responsibility
• Ongoing competence development and training

Safety Versus Salary: What Employees Truly Value

One of the most revealing findings challenges a long-held assumption. Even during economic pressure, 70% of frontline workers would choose safety over higher wages when considering new employment.

This sends a clear message to employers: workers value safe, respectful, and supportive environments more than financial incentives alone.

Organisations that ignore safety may save costs short-term but face higher turnover, recruitment challenges, and reputational damage long-term.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) – Impact of Workplace Safety on Employee Retention

Why These Barriers Persist

Despite clear risks, these challenges continue due to:

• Safety being viewed as a cost, not an investment
• Lack of leadership competence in OHS
• Fragmented training systems
• Resistance to change and digital adoption
• Failure to listen to frontline workers

Breaking these patterns requires a shift from reactive safety management to proactive, worker-centred systems supported by training and technology.

Preparing for the Next Step: Empowerment and Innovation

This section highlights that most safety failures are systemic, not accidental. Leadership gaps, training deficiencies, and cultural weaknesses combine to create environments where risks are tolerated rather than controlled.

In the final section, we will explore:

• How empowering frontline workers improves safety outcomes
• The role of digital and mobile-first safety solutions
• How technology supports training and reporting
• A real-world case study demonstrating measurable improvement

Empowering Frontline Workers: How Technology, Training, and Engagement Improvements Achieve Safety Performance

Empower frontline employees, and all stakeholders benefit from improved safety outcomes, stronger compliance, and greater operational efficiency. While leadership commitment and structured training are essential, real progress is achieved when frontline workers are given a voice, practical tools, and relevant knowledge.

SafetyCulture’s “Feedback from the Field” report reinforces a critical insight: frontline workers are not the problem they are a key part of the solution.

Why Empowerment Is a Safety Strategy, Not a Soft Concept

Empowerment in workplace health and safety extends far beyond motivation or engagement initiatives. It functions as a strategic control measure. Research shows that 55% of frontline workers believe the most effective safety improvement ideas come from within their own teams rather than from senior leadership.

This insight presents a major opportunity for organisations. Those closest to the work are best positioned to identify gaps, inefficiencies, and unsafe practices that often precede incidents.

What Empowered Workers Can Do More Of

When frontline employees feel empowered, they are more likely to:

• Report hazards and near misses
• Recommend safer and more efficient work methods
• Comply consistently with procedures and processes
• Intervene when unsafe activities are observed
• Take ownership of safety outcomes

Key Insight:
Empowered employees move safety beyond compliance and into personal accountability.

Removing Boundaries to Participation

Many frontline workers want to contribute to safety improvements but feel unable to do so meaningfully. The report highlights that 31% of employees believe their managers do not support or encourage continuous improvement, creating a culture of silence rather than engagement.

Barriers to participation include:

• Fear of blame or disciplinary action
• Lack of feedback on reported issues
• Complex or time-consuming reporting processes
• The belief that reporting will not lead to change

To overcome these barriers, organisations must implement systems that are simple, transparent, and responsive, demonstrating that employee input is valued and acted upon.

Digital Safety Systems: Turning Insight into Action

Technology is reshaping how organisations manage health and safety, especially for deskless workforces. Traditional paper-based systems are slow, inconsistent, and disconnected from real-time operations.

SafetyCulture, known for its iAuditor application, has developed a mobile-first workplace operations platform designed to address these challenges holistically.

Key benefits of digital safety platforms include:

• Mobile-based safety inspections
• Photographic capture of hazards
• Real-time tracking of corrective actions
• Centralised safety data and analytics
• Instant access to work instructions

Digitising paper forms ensures frontline workers always have access to the latest safety information, regardless of location.

SafetyCulture – Workplace Operations Platform

Smarter Training Through Technology and AI

Training is most effective when it is accessible, relevant, and continuous. SafetyCulture’s platform integrates AI-driven tools that enable organisations to create customised training content and inspection templates quickly.

Innovations such as text-to-speech functionality enhance accessibility, supporting workers with different literacy levels or language needs and ensuring consistent knowledge delivery.

Advantages of digitally enabled training:

• On-demand access to learning materials
• Rapid updates when procedures change
• Role-specific training delivery
• Improved retention through visual and audio formats

Research Evidence:
Workers with access to training at the point of need are significantly more likely to apply it correctly.

Real-World Example: Mobile Mini’s Safety Transformation

Mobile Mini, the UK’s leading provider of site accommodation and secure storage solutions, demonstrates the impact of empowerment and technology in action.

By replacing paper-based systems with digital tools, frontline teams were able to conduct inspections using mobile devices and capture photographic evidence to provide real-world context.

Measurable outcomes achieved:

• Improved inspection quality and consistency
• Faster hazard reporting and resolution
• Stronger audit trails for compliance
• A measurable reduction in workplace accidents

The Role of Recognised Qualifications in Sustaining Safety

While technology improves efficiency, competence sustains safety. Digital tools must be supported by structured learning and recognised qualifications to deliver long-term impact.

Accredited health and safety qualifications enable organisations to:

• Demonstrate regulatory compliance
• Build internal safety leadership capability
• Standardise safety knowledge across sites
• Support continuous professional development

Safety as a Competitive Advantage

Research shows that 70% of frontline workers prioritise safety over higher wages, positioning safety as a key differentiator in attracting and retaining talent.

Organisations with strong safety standards benefit from:

• Lower employee turnover
• Higher workforce engagement
• Enhanced brand reputation
• Greater client confidence

Building Safer, Smarter Workplaces

The challenges facing frontline workers are significant but solvable. Evidence shows that leadership commitment, continuous training, digital innovation, and worker empowerment together create safer and more resilient workplaces.

Organisations that listen to their workforce, invest in recognised qualifications, and adopt modern safety technologies are better positioned to prevent incidents, maintain compliance, and perform at their best.

Workplace safety is no longer about ticking boxes; it is about protecting people, strengthening performance, and building trust.