When looking for a new job, it’s not unusual to take job security into consideration. A new survey from CareerBuilder looks at how safe workers feel in their workplace, and the results are quite worrying. Ninety three per cent of workers feel their office is a safe place to work, yet only half (52 per cent) of workers say they would know what to do to protect themselves if there was an emergency in their office that posed a physical threat.
Protected for disaster?
When asked if they considered their workplace to be well-protected, the majority of employees considered their place of work to be best protected for flood, fire or other disaster 66%, closely followed by:
- Weather-related threat 65%
- Physical threat from another person 53%
- Digital hacking threat 41%
A large proportion of workers (63 per cent) say their company has an emergency plan in place in case of fire, flood or other disaster; yet less than half (47 per cent) say the same of extremely severe weather. When it comes to a technology security breach, 44 per cent of workers believe their company has an emergency plan in place, but fewer (42 per cent) say their company has an emergency plan in place in case of a physical attack from another person.
“Workplace emergency plans should be treated with just as much importance as any other workplace policy and procedure,” says Scott Helmes, managing director of CareerBuilder UK.
Helmes continued: “It is of the utmost importance that all employees are not only aware of office emergency procedures, but are well-practiced in them so they know what to do to protect themselves and others.”
CareerBuilder UK provides three tips to help increase worker’s safety in the workplace:
- Be prepared – take time to read up on the emergency safety procedures so you know what to do if disaster strikes
- Be calm – should the worst happen, take a second to gather your thoughts and think your plan of action through as you could put yourself in more danger by panicking
- Be vigilant – take a positive step and be aware of your surroundings, tell a line manager or superior if you suspect suspicious behavior
The national survey was conducted online on behalf of CareerBuilder.co.uk of more than 1000 employees across the UK.
