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Risk culture survey: Identifies human factors driving risky behaviour to improve organisational safety performance

Safety culture surveys reveal employee attitudes, improve workplace safety, and help reduce risks in manufacturing, aviation, food, retail, hospitality sectors.

28/10/2025 · 3 minute read

Organisations in sectors such as manufacturing, aviation, food, retail, and hospitality — where employees routinely engage in tasks that may expose them to risks — have made significant strides in physical safety. They have conducted risk assessments, established procedures, and arranged for training. Yet, despite these efforts, accidents, incidents, or near misses continue to occur. The question then becomes: "What should we do next?" A safety culture survey, which assesses employees’ attitudes and perceptions towards safety, offers valuable insights to help answer this question and drive further improvements.

Insights provided by a safety culture survey

Fundamentally, people’s beliefs about safety strongly influence their behaviour. The purpose of assessing safety culture is to understand the factors that shape workplace behaviour and, consequently, affect risk. These considerations include:

  • Workforce engagement in safety matters.
  • Effectiveness of communication.
  • Extent of positive leadership.

By quantifying employee attitudes and perceptions about safety, organisations can identify strengths and weaknesses in their safety maturity and performance, and decide upon areas for improvement.

Safety culture surveys might show that a substantial portion of the workforce firmly believes that productivity may take precedence over safety in critical situations. There can be a disconnect between management's perception of compliance with safety protocols and actual workplace conditions. And if employee perception (rightly or wrongly) is that incidents in the workplace are investigated primarily to allocate blame, they will be significantly underreported, thus obscuring the real safety picture.

Respondents may also express that, while they understand the rules, they have never been asked for their input on safety improvements. This finding is crucial, as involving employees in developing safety protocols enhances compliance. A key challenge for many organisations is shifting the conversation from compliance metrics — such as attendance at training sessions — to creating a continuous feedback loop between employees and employers. This approach empowers employees, particularly those closely involved in operations, to share their views on safety issues.

Gauging attitudes towards safety should be an ongoing process rather than a one-time assessment. Regular safety culture surveys can demonstrate an organisation’s progress and maturity in safety practices over time.

Benchmarking safety culture: Internal and external comparisons

A safety culture survey provides valuable data to assess an organisation’s safety maturity and performance, both within its own operations and in comparison to industry peers.

Internal benchmarking: Evaluates safety performance across an organisation’s locations, for example, by comparing Newcastle employees' survey scores with those in Reading. It can also show differences in safety experiences by age and job role. For instance, employees in managerial positions can have a different experience with safety than those in production.

External benchmarking: Compares an organisation’s safety culture performance against UK and international standards, enabling it to assess its position relative to peers and showcase successes, such as in annual reports.

Strategies to improve physical safety

Using the survey results, organisations can develop targeted interventions for areas with the highest safety risks and the greatest opportunity to positively influence employee attitudes to improve safety.

Strategies often revolve around communication, leadership, and the need for both bottom-up engagement and top-down support, and can include:

  • Educating leaders on the importance of regularly providing their teams with safety updates and ensuring that safety is prioritised alongside productivity and quality.
  • Implementing programmes to observe behaviour and facilitate peer-to-peer feedback.
  • Introducing reward and recognition systems that encourage the right behaviours, including measuring managers’ performance in relation to safety outcomes.
  • Establishing key performance indicators (KPIs) to continuously monitor the organisation’s progress in safety. Instead of merely counting accidents, proactive measures are evaluated.

Advantages of a stronger safety culture

Minimising employee injury risk and safeguarding well-being is an important moral and ethical imperative for many organisations.

Prioritising employee wellbeing also has a reputational benefit. An organisation that makes sure its employees are safe is more likely to retain staff, which can strengthen its brand.

Improvements in workplace safety can ensure regulatory compliance and, in some cases, reduce insurance costs. Insurers may offer risk management funding to clients dedicated to improving safety and risk management within their organisations.

For more information on how a safety culture survey could benefit your organisation, please contact your Marsh advisor.

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