Many small business owners believe their workplace safety programs are adequate. They’ve checked the boxes: implemented protocols, conducted training sessions, posted bulletins, and created reporting systems. But recent research surveying over 1,000 small business employees, compared with a separate survey of over 1,000 employers, confirms what I’ve observed firsthand in my decades of experience working in claims: there’s a significant disconnect between what employers think they’re providing and what employees actually experience.
These aren’t small discrepancies. There are fundamental gaps that put people at risk.
When Training Exists on Paper But Not in Practice
The most striking gap involves safety training itself. While 63 percent of employers report providing structured safety training sessions, only 29 percent of employees say they receive it. Even more alarming: 28 percent of employees report never receiving any formal workplace safety training.
That 34-point gap tells me this isn’t a content problem. It’s a delivery problem. Programs exist on paper but fail in execution.
So how can small business owners make changes?
Start by implementing tracking systems that verify training completion and understanding, not just scheduled sessions. Use learning management systems that require demonstrated competency, not just sign-offs that can be rushed through. Audit your delivery by directly surveying employees about what training they’ve received, then compare their responses to your records. You’ll likely discover certain shifts get missed, part-time workers are excluded, or training is announced but not enforced.
Make training mandatory during paid work hours. When safety training competes with productivity demands, productivity wins every time. It’s important to prioritize the importance of safety training, which can help prevent injuries that would have an even greater impact on productivity.
Why Employees Stay Silent
Oftentimes, many incidents occur where employees see the hazard coming but say nothing. The research confirms why: 17 percent of workers hesitate to report safety concerns, and their reasons reveal deeper cultural problems. Of those employees, 35 percent fear retaliation or negative consequences, 33 percent don’t want to seem difficult, and 31 percent think nothing would be done anyway.
No amount of training can fix a culture where employees are afraid to speak up. When workers stay silent, small issues become big claims.
The solution starts with leadership. Train managers specifically on responding supportively to safety concerns. Use role-play scenarios where managers practice thanking and recognizing employees for raising issues, asking clarifying questions without defensiveness, and following up visibly. The businesses that create open communication channels consistently see better safety outcomes.
Establish anonymous reporting systems and train employees how to use them. Make it simple: a dedicated email, suggestion box, or third-party hotline that someone monitors and responds to consistently. Then share concrete examples of how employee feedback led to changes. Document the before-and-after.
The Mental Health Reality
The most significant shift is that employees now cite mental health as their number one workplace safety concern at 32 percent, surpassing physical injury risks at 20 percent. Yet, only 30 percent of employees say they have mental health protocols available, despite 52 percent of employers claiming they’ve implemented them.
The connection between mental health and physical injury is clear in the data: exhausted workers miss steps, distracted workers overlook hazards, and burned-out workers take shortcuts. You can’t have physical safety without mental well-being.
Integrate mental health into existing safety training rather than treating it as optional. When discussing workplace hazards, include stress, burnout, and fatigue alongside physical risks. Train employees on recognizing signs of stress and burnout in themselves and their coworkers. Provide clear guidance on what to do when they notice signs like changes in behavior, increased irritability, decreased productivity, or withdrawal from colleagues. Be specific about resources. Don’t just say “We offer an Employee Assistance Program.” Say: “Call this number 24/7 for free confidential counseling. You get five sessions per issue. No one at work will know unless you choose to tell them.”
What employees request most is straightforward and achievable: 19 percent want flexible work hours, and 17 percent want mental health day allowances. These don’t have to be expensive programs. They’re acknowledgments that people have lives outside of work.
The Knowledge Gap That Costs Lives
Nearly half of employees, 44 percent, don’t clearly understand how to report workplace injuries, and 65 percent don’t know how to file workers’ compensation claims. These knowledge gaps delay care, worsen outcomes, and expose businesses to compliance risks.
Create simple, visual guides for injury reporting and workers’ comp processes. Use flowcharts and step-by-step checklists. Test them with actual employees to ensure clarity. Include reporting procedures in all onboarding training. Walk through the actual forms. Show where first aid supplies are located. Have new hires practice filling out a sample injury report.
Then conduct annual refresher training on reporting procedures. Employees forget processes they’ve never needed to use. Make this a focused 10-minute module covering critical information: who to notify, how quickly, and what information is needed.
When Safety Competes With Productivity
When asked why employees don’t follow safety protocols, 18 percent cited them being too time-consuming, and 43 percent reported feeling pressure to work through fatigue or unsafe conditions to meet deadlines.
This reveals a fundamental conflict: safety protocols compete with productivity demands. When timelines are tight and schedules don’t account for proper safety procedures, workers may default to speed over caution, no matter how good your training is.
Train supervisors to build safety time into project schedules. When leaders rush past safety steps, they train employees to do the same, regardless of what formal training says. If a task takes two hours with shortcuts but two and a half hours done safely, schedule two and a half hours.
Teach employees how to communicate when time pressure creates unsafe conditions. Provide scripts: “I want to meet this deadline, but completing it safely requires X more time. Should I prioritize speed or safety?” This empowers workers to push back without fear and forces explicit conversations about priorities.
From Awareness to Action
At the end of the day, both employers and employees want safer workplaces. They just have different perspectives on whether current efforts are working.
As training professionals, you can bridge this divide by verifying delivery, building trust, expanding your definition of safety to include mental health, closing knowledge gaps, and addressing the systemic issues that force workers to choose between productivity and safety.
Start by asking your own employees what safety training they’ve received. Their answers may surprise you, and they’ll reveal exactly where the gaps are. Because at the end of the day, the safety disconnect isn’t about a lack of care. It’s the space between knowing what’s needed and having the systems, culture, and support to act on it.
Closing that gap doesn’t require big budgets. It takes leadership, discipline, and the willingness to look honestly at what’s actually happening on the ground versus what you think is happening. That’s where real safety begins.
