Many businesses gambling with their Health & Safety

• 13% of employees don’t know where their fire assembly point is
• 3 in 10 have never seen their Health & Safety policy
• Many businesses at risk of costly fines
• 10% of employees don’t feel safe at work

Worryingly, more than 4 million employees don’t know where their fire assembly point is, according to research conducted by Citation.

Employees aged between 18 and 24 were least likely to know where to congregate, with those aged 55+ most likely. In 2016/17 alone, there were 17 fire-related fatalities and 892 causalities within UK businesses, adding to employers’ safety woes.

Exposed to fines

Many businesses are at risk of hefty fines too, with three in 10 employees saying they’ve never seen their workplace’s written Health & Safety policy – a legal requirement for businesses with five or more employees.

Furthermore, 40% of employees admitted they’ve never laid eyes on their Health & Safety handbook – an important part of ensuring businesses’ safety standards.

Accident galore

More than 4.5 million employees confessed they do not know how to report an accident. Again, those aged between 18 and 24 proved least savvy, with one in four admitting they don’t know how to report an accident.

In 2016/17, there were 137 employee deaths that stemmed from an accident at work – construction, agriculture and manufacturing were the worst hit industries. In addition, there was 609,000 injuries reported.

Unsafe workplaces

Concerningly, 3.2 million employees don’t feel safe in their place of work. Geographically, employees in the North East are most likely to feel insecure in their work’s environment. On the other end of the spectrum, Northern Ireland came out as the safest region.

*3gem questioned a nationally representative sample of 2,000 working adults aged 18 and over between 11th and 14th July 2017.