Downward trend in safety efforts among UK and USA organisations, finds study

One in four employees (26 per cent) admit their workplace safety fears have skyrocketed within the past few years, said the AlertMedia study of over 4,000 workers from the USA and the UK.

One in four employees (26 per cent) say that something about their job makes them afraid. More than half (56 per cent) admit they don’t feel completely safe at work.

American employees are more likely than their UK colleagues to ‘weigh in’ on safety matters at their organisation. Photograph: iStock

For managers, their reasons for this included feeling that safety decisions were “outside of their control”, or that their teams did not work from the same location. A quarter said they didn’t have support from their bosses to keep the team safe.
In the survey’s fourth year, issued by the communications company, it showed a downward trend in safety efforts.

In 2025, 59 per cent of employees don’t believe their employer has made more effort over the past year to ensure their safety compared with previous years. For UK employees this was higher, as 62 per cent reported their employers are not making more effort.

The survey, which went to 2,022 full time employees in the USA and 1,000 in the UK, found differences between the countries’ experiences.

For example, American employees are more likely than their UK colleagues to have chances to ‘weigh in’ on the safety culture at their organisation (42 per cent compared with 33 per cent).

However, around two in five UK employees have reported a safety concern at work in the past, compared with just over a third of US employees.

“Our 2025 report highlights that workplace safety is a fundamental expectation for employees across geographies, industries, and generations,” said Christopher Kenessey, CEO at AlertMedia.

Download the 2025 Employee Safety Report:
alertmedia.com/employee-safety-report