To Improve Workplace Safety and Reporting, Improve Training

Nearly 3 million people globally die each year from workplace injuries or workplace-induced diseases, according to the International Labour Organization, while 395 million sustain non-fatal injuries that can have longer-term impacts.

According to the Lloyd’s Register World Risk Poll, 18 percent of the workforce say they’ve experienced harm at work in the previous two years. The percentage has been flat over the previous years’ of the poll, the most recent of which is based on more than 147,000 interviews conducted in 142 countries by Gallup in 2023.

Workplace safety is a concern for most supply management organizations, and according to the Lloyd’s Register poll, can be more prevalent in certain industries, like fishing, construction and mining, and less prevalent in others, like electricity, gas or water supply. Findings from the poll were presented today during a webinar, which also featured a panel of international safety experts.

Increased training — especially targeted training — and establishing a workplace culture or climate that centers on safety are some of the actions that can be taken to improve occupational health and safety, and the reporting of harm.

The Findings

Taken together, the World Risk Poll findings show that people in more precarious types of work or who have worked in industries with fewer preventative and fewer safety measures are more at risk, said Aaron Gardner, senior data and insight scientist at Lloyd’s Register Foundation. “It’s a global issue, but it’s not equally experienced across the globe or by people even within countries,” he said.

But experience is only one aspect of harm; worry is another. The World Risk Poll found that circumstances like severe weather, water issues and transportation concerns can increase workers’ worry about harm, he said.

Among other World Risk Poll findings:

• Men are more likely than women to say they’ve experienced harm
• Younger workers were more likely to report harm incidents than older workers
• Workers with only primary education are more likely to report harm than those with higher levels of education.

What Is Harm?

The poll report did not quantity what constituted harm, leaving the interpretation up to the individual.

“Our perceptions of harm have changed,” said Sarah Ischer, environmental health and safety manager at the National Safety Council, based in Itasca, Illinois. “We may have first thought that it’s just physical safety, but it’s now kind of moving into psychological safety as well. So, over the past five years, what we think about as being harmful has changed. So that could increase with the Kind of the responses people are having.

In the U.S., the top reasons that people are injured or hurt at work are overexertion, slips, trips and falls, she said. But the coronavirus pandemic ignited the realization that respiratory illness and exposure to harmful substances also could be factors.

The Need for Training

The World Risk Poll found that 62 percent of workers say they have never received occupational safety and health (OSH) training. Of the 38 percent who say they have, only 30 percent have received it in the last two years.

“Eastern Europe leads the pack, where 59 percent have had training in the past two years and a further 19 percent of people say they have received training at some point,” Gardner said. That’s a vast difference from Africa, where 11 percent of workers say they received OSH training in the previous two years, and another 10 percent saying at some point.

The report also found that receiving OSH training encouraged reporting, he said.

It also could reinforce what constitutes harm.

Workers sometimes mistakenly think that injuries or other forms of workplace harm are part of the job, Ischer said. It could be that their workplace doesn’t support a culture of reporting or understanding, she added.

“A lot of it does come down to training,” she said. “If you don’t have training that identifies risks and why people should be concerned with it, then it’s not going to create that loop where they come back and realize this actually matters.”

Barriers to Overcome

Fear. Panelist Alan McCulla, coordinator at the International Fund for Fishing Safety in the United Kingdom, offered insights about workplace safety and the fishing industry, including that some fishers are afraid to report harm, thinking that it will lead to repercussions.

Checking the box. Some organizations offer training just to check the box but don’t follow up.

Learning styles differ. Some workers won’t listen or can’t absorb OSH training by sitting in a classroom for several hours.

For training and reporting to be successful, organizations need to understand the modes in which their employees receive information and training, Ischer said. Training can be sophisticated, for example, with augmented reality, or not. Most workers prefer training to be in their native language, she said.

“But it has to start with understanding how your employees receive information and then building it from there,” Ischer said. “You have to go out and start with something.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Dmytro Kuznletsov)