The Safety Illusion: Why Workers Feel Safe in Dangerously Unsafe Jobs

LEHI, UT & HOUSTON, TX – December 09, 2025 – A troubling paradox is unfolding across America’s most dangerous worksites. In the high-risk arenas of construction, manufacturing, and mining, the vast majority of workers—nearly 80%—report feeling safe. Yet, new research reveals this feeling may be a dangerous illusion, masking systemic failures and a pervasive culture of silence that puts lives at risk every day.

A landmark survey released by Avetta, a leading provider of supply chain risk management software, uncovers a stark disconnect between employee perception and operational reality. While workers express confidence in their day-to-day safety, over half (53%) admit their worksites have, at best, only partial safety systems in place. More alarmingly, 17% of those are unaware of any safety system at all. This chasm between feeling safe and being safe points to a deep-seated vulnerability in industries where the margin for error is zero.

“The research shows that while workers may feel safe day-to-day, a majority of high-risk jobsites are operating on shaky ground when it comes to genuine protection,” said Scott DeBow, Director of Health, Safety and Environmental at Avetta. “This safety perception gap, or false sense of safety, is particularly dangerous because it represents a systemic failure of governance, where far too many organizations are relying on luck instead of verifiable controls to actually keep workers safe.”

A Culture of Silence

The most unsettling finding is not the lack of systems, but the silence of the workforce. The study found that while 68% of workers regularly notice safety risks on the job, a staggering 72% choose not to report them. This isn't due to ignorance or apathy. It’s a calculated decision rooted in cynicism and fear. The primary reason for their silence, cited by 36% of respondents, is a belief that reporting is a futile exercise and that nothing will change. Close behind, 29% remain quiet for fear of repercussions—a clear indicator of a broken safety culture.

This phenomenon is not isolated. Data from the National Safety Council shows preventable deaths are at an all-time high, and independent studies have long pointed to significant underreporting of injuries and near misses across high-hazard sectors. When workers are discouraged from speaking up, an organization loses its most critical real-time sensor: its people. “When workers don’t feel they can or should speak up, organizations lose their most valuable safety sensor—human insight,” DeBow warned.

This silence creates a vicious cycle. Unreported near misses are lost opportunities for prevention. Without this vital data, management remains blind to latent risks, reinforcing the illusion that current systems are adequate. This dynamic erodes trust and fosters an environment where psychological safety—the belief that one can speak up without fear of punishment or humiliation—is non-existent. In such cultures, productivity targets often overshadow safety protocols, and employees who raise concerns risk being labeled as troublemakers rather than valued contributors to a safer workplace.

Beyond Compliance: The Rise of Proactive Safety Governance

For decades, many organizations have approached safety through the lens of compliance, aiming to meet the minimum standards set by regulatory bodies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Avetta's findings suggest this approach is critically flawed. A compliance-only mindset fosters a reactive culture that waits for incidents to happen before taking action. True safety governance, however, is proactive, predictive, and deeply integrated into an organization's operational fabric.

The foundation of this shift lies in leadership. A silver lining in the research indicates that change is underway, with 62% of workers reporting that health and safety are becoming a “bigger” or “much bigger” priority for their leadership. This growing executive commitment is the essential catalyst for moving beyond perception and building systems that deliver verifiable safety.

This is where technology becomes a powerful enabler. The workers surveyed expressed strong optimism about the potential of advanced digital tools to bridge the safety gap. Their top-ranked solutions point toward a future of data-driven, interconnected safety management:

• Digital Credentialing: Tools to track and verify worker skills and training on-site ensure that only qualified individuals perform high-risk tasks.
• Unified Risk Platforms: Centralized software systems that break down data silos, offering a single source of truth for identifying, tracking, and mitigating risks across the entire supply chain.
• AI-Powered Risk Detection: Artificial intelligence is emerging as a game-changer, capable of analyzing vast datasets from equipment logs, CCTV footage, and environmental sensors to predict potential failures and hazards before they materialize.

The Technology of Trust

The Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) software market is rapidly evolving to meet this demand. Cloud-based platforms are replacing cumbersome spreadsheets, offering real-time dashboards and mobile reporting tools that make it easier for workers to log concerns instantly and anonymously. AI copilots are being integrated to automate incident categorization, generate OSHA-compliant reports, and analyze trends, freeing up safety professionals to focus on strategic interventions rather than administrative tasks.

Furthermore, connected worker technology is bringing safety directly to the front line. Smart helmets with proximity sensors, biometric vests that monitor for heat stress and fatigue, and mobile apps with geofencing capabilities create a digital safety net around each employee. Drones are deployed to inspect dangerous and hard-to-reach areas, from unstable structures to live power lines, removing humans from harm's way entirely.

By embracing these innovations, organizations can create a transparent and responsive safety ecosystem. When a worker reports a hazard through a mobile app and sees a work order generated in real-time, it dismantles the belief that reporting is a waste of time. When leadership uses data from these systems to celebrate proactive catches and make tangible improvements, it dismantles the fear of reprisal. Technology, in this sense, becomes a tool for building trust.

The path forward requires a dual commitment: leadership must actively cultivate psychological safety, and organizations must strategically invest in technologies that provide verifiable controls. As DeBow concluded, the goal is to “create conditions where workers are not just confident, but they’re truly ready to work.” This transformation from a culture of silence and luck to one of transparency and data is not just about preventing the next accident—it’s about building the resilient, efficient, and fundamentally humane industrial operations of the future.