Safety budgets and behaviour gaps
Blackline Safety has published findings from a global workplace survey showing that 95% of safety leaders plan to maintain or increase budgets over the next two years.
The company said the study was carried out by independent research firm NewtonX and surveyed 200 senior safety and operations professionals globally at companies with at least 500 employees.
The findings are compiled in the Keeping People Safe: Global Data on the State of Workplace Safety report, which Blackline Safety said is available free of charge.
The survey found that 97% of safety leaders believe workplace safety is fundamental to reliable productivity.
It also found that 64% of respondents see a gap between safety protocol and real-world behaviour.
Christine Gillies, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Blackline Safety, said: “It’s clear from the survey that a majority of experts support a change in safety culture across industries.
“As a result, we’ll see safety increasingly becoming a holistic, enterprise-wide operating system instead of a compliance function, and companies that treat it this way will close the protocol-behavior gap, creating safer and more productive workplaces.”
Gillies said feedback from respondents pointed to disconnections between people, process and technology.
She also cited a lack of understanding of day-to-day worksite realities by those creating protocols.
Additional processes that fail to address root causes of safety issues were also identified as a possible reason for the gap.
Safety priorities, trust and AI use
Blackline Safety said the report also identified the main areas where safety leaders are directing budget.
Worker training was the top priority at 46%, followed by workforce engagement at 41%.
Improvements of infrastructure to reduce risk accounted for 34%, with new technology at 30% and internal advocacy to promote the value of safety at 29%.
Nearly one third of respondents said better training could help build greater worker trust when that training is relevant, continuous, two-way and based on a culture of safety.
The survey also found that 76% of safety leaders said zero incident goals persist and are unrealistic.
Respondents reported that organisations are investing in safety tools and devices including personal protective equipment, walkie-talkies and radios, as well as advanced technologies.
Leaders said only 36% of workers have a great deal of trust in their companies’ tools and procedures, with 92% having some level of trust.
Gillies added: “Three pillars make up a strong safety culture – training and communication, tools and technology, and data and reporting.
“Most organizations have all three, yet few have them working together, which means gaps persist even when investment increases.”
The report also found that 65% of leaders expect AI risk prediction tools to become increasingly key.
Respondents said they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in AI tools for safety data analytics and reporting at 84%, training and simulation at 83% and predictive risk analytics at 79%.
Most respondents said they review incident reports and near-miss records, although 33.5% said they spend time on predictive analytics to forecast risk.
Key takeaways from the workplace safety report
Blackline Safety’s Keeping People Safe: Global Data on the State of Workplace Safety report presents findings from a global survey of 200 safety and operations leaders working in organisations with more than 500 employees, supported by interviews across multiple sectors.
The report finds that most organisations are increasing or maintaining safety budgets, with 95% of leaders expecting continued investment over the next two years. It also shows that 97% of respondents link workplace safety directly to productivity, indicating that safety is widely treated as a business function rather than a standalone requirement.
Despite this, incident rates remain high. The report states that 71% of organisations experience recordable incidents or near-misses, while 53% of workplace safety incidents result in injuries that lead to lost time. This gap between investment and outcomes is a recurring theme across the findings.
A majority of respondents report a disconnect between safety protocols and how work is carried out in practice. The report attributes this to gaps between people, processes and technology, along with limited understanding of real working conditions when protocols are designed. Differences in behaviour between contractors and employees are also highlighted, even where visibility into compliance is high.
The report outlines three core components of safety systems: training and communication, tools and technology, and data and reporting. While most organisations have each of these in place, they often operate separately. This lack of integration limits how effectively information is shared and applied across operations.
Training is identified as the top area of investment, with 46% of leaders prioritising it in their budgets. Even so, the report notes that training is often delivered in a top-down format focused on compliance, which can reduce engagement and limit its impact on behaviour.
Organisations are also using a wide range of safety tools, including personal protective equipment, radios and monitoring devices. While 92% of workers are reported to have some level of trust in these tools, only 36% are said to have a high level of trust, with barriers linked to usability, device burden and lack of clarity around purpose.
Data use remains largely focused on reviewing past incidents. The report states that 73% of organisations analyse incident reports and near-miss records, while only 33.5% spend time on predictive analytics. This limits the ability to identify and address risks before incidents occur.
There is growing interest in predictive approaches, with 65% of leaders expecting AI-based risk prediction tools to play a larger role. Respondents report high levels of trust in AI for safety data analysis, training applications and predictive risk modelling.
The report also highlights that 76% of leaders consider zero-incident targets to be unrealistic. It states that these targets can contribute to underreporting of incidents and near-misses, reducing the visibility needed to improve safety outcomes.
Across the findings, the report indicates that improving outcomes depends on connecting training, tools and data into a single system, along with increasing the use of predictive analysis to identify risks earlier.