Almost two-thirds of men are being put in danger at work by poor health and safety procedures, compared to a quarter of women, according to new research.

A survey of 1,000 male and 1,000 female employees, which was conducted by award-winning data capture app provider, WorkMobile, found that 61% of male employees have not received any information on their company’s health and safety policies, despite the majority of these workers confirming they work in more hazardous working environments.

Over half (54%) of male respondents said they worked in a hazardous role, such as construction or manual labour, compared to just 19% of women.

Of those male employees who said they received safety guidance, worryingly 13% said the health and safety information hadn’t been updated since they’ve received it, so is likely to be out-of-date and even ineffective.

A quarter (25%) of labourers in manual professions, such as construction, thought their company’s health and safety information didn’t go into enough detail about their role and the dangers they could face, or how to deal with risky situations.

Although it is the duty of the employer to keep staff members safe, male workers are also more likely to neglect their own welfare and break the rules that have been put in place. A quarter of men (23%) said they have failed to follow the correct safety procedures, putting themselves in danger, compared to just 4% of women.

Reassuringly though, if an incident was to occur fourth fifths (83%) of men would know how to report it. But, a third (31%) of women would not know what to do if faced with a hazardous situation, which suggests that they might not be adequately trained on how to keep themselves and others around them safe.

Surpisingly, those men and woman who work in low-risk roles, like office work, are more likely to read their company’s health safety guidance - almost two thirds (60%) of these employees have read the health and safety documents they were provided with, despite being exposed to fewer hazards.

The survey forms part of Workmobile’s ‘Work Safe’ report, which looks at the current state of health and safety in the UK and where improvements need to be made to protect workers.

It also found that more than a quarter of young people are failing to follow the health and safety procedures put in place by their employer and are putting themselves in danger.

27% of workers aged between 18 and 34 have put themselves at risk by not following their companies’ safety procedures.

This is despite them being more likely than their older colleagues to read the health and safety guidance they were provided with. It found that half (56%) of people aged between 18 and 34 have read their operations manual, compared to only 30% of 45 to 64 year olds.

Even though fewer older people have read their company’s health and safety information, just 8% have put themselves in danger by not following the procedures correctly.

Colin Yates, chief support officer at WorkMobile, said: “From the research, we can see that men tend to work in more dangerous roles than women. While this may not be surprising to some, it was surprising to find out that in this day and age employers are still putting these employees at risk, with a lack of even the most basis health and safety procedures to protect workers most at risk of injury.

“Employees working in dangerous sectors, such as construction or manual labour, will inevitably face a higher number of hazards than those in office-based roles, for example. Based on this, we’d expect companies in these sectors to take health and safety much more seriously in order to keep their staff safe.

“Companies need to make sure they’re putting the safety and wellbeing of their staff first – it’s their legal responsibility. When staff are not trained on how to work safely, or are not given the correct information to operate compliantly, there is a greater risk of accidents happening – especially in these more hazardous industries.

“Failing to supply workers with information and guidance on health and safety policies could land business owners with a hefty fine, or even a prison sentence in extreme cases. With working practices constantly being improved, there is no excuse for not obeying the law and fulfilling their business obligations.”

For more information, please visit: http://www.workmobileforms.com/research-and-whitepapers/