» Back to listing One in Ten Manual Workers Believes Their Employer Doesn't Take Health & Safety Seriously

A new study commissioned by YouGov sheds new light on the manual work conditions in UK factories, warehouses, and distribution centres and how many employees risk their health while doing their job. Legal experts warn that many workplace injuries are under-reported and that businesses take heavy financial risks by neglecting their duty of care. 

The UK-wide survey interviewed 2,019 participants who worked in factories, warehouses, and distribution centres and was carried out by a global manufacturing company on behalf of YouGov. The results weren’t exactly encouraging, showing that a worrying percentage of workers worry about their health and safety. At a national level, 11% of manual workers said that they do not feel safe at work, and 37% that their employer cuts corners when it comes to health and safety. At a local level, there are variations. On average, 19% of workers in the UK suspect that their employer doesn’t report safety incidents, but in Yorkshire and the North West, this percentage is higher. 

These figures are even more concerning if we also consider the fact that, since the beginning of the pandemic, warehouses and distribution centres have experienced a larger workload. One-third of workers said that the COVID-19 pandemic has made their employers prioritise measures that prevent the spread of the virus, such as wearing protective clothing, maintaining a safe distance, and using hand sanitiser, but this has been done to the detriment of other essential health and safety measures. For example, four in ten workers said that their employers had not provided separate crossing routes where special vehicles operate. 

In the past, even more of these injuries went unreported, but, in recent years, there has been more awareness on the matter of workplace health & safety. Many workers are now aware that their employer has a duty of care towards them and that if they do not meet this duty of care, they are entitled to take legal action. The myth of the expensive lawyer is also starting to be busted, as more and more people now understand that they can work with a legal expert who will only charge them a small percentage if they win the case. This service is called “no win no fee”, and it’s helped many people receive compensation for workplace injuries, car accidents, and more. 

Why employers should pay more attention to health and safety 

While it may be tempting to neglect health and safety measures and hope that accidents won’t happen to you, statistics show that they probably will. And when they do, the financial risks can be crippling both in terms of direct and indirect costs: 

For example, the compensation amount for a minor eye injury doesn’t usually exceed £8,000, but paralysis after a back injury is classified as a severe case, and compensation can reach up to £151,000. On top of this, a number of employers consider the indirect costs as being negligible in comparison but, in the long run, they can actually exceed them.