Is your workplace a health and safety nightmare? Take this quiz to see whether it ticks all the boxes – or just stacks them in front of the fire exits.
The quiz follows research which revealed three in ten consider their workplace an “accident waiting to happen”, with 59% claiming their employer needs to do more to put fewer staff at risk.
Almost three-quarters (71%) said their desks are not configured properly, meaning they regularly suffer aches and pains.
And more than half (55%) complain about poor air quality – and reckon they go the entire day without breathing fresh air.
A spokesman for Andrews Air Quality, which commissioned the research, said: “There are no doubt some majorly varying workplaces across the country when it comes to health and safety.
“And while there are lots of obvious dangers that can befall you at work, like being in a busy warehouse environment, many risks are a lot more low key.
“Things like not sitting at a properly-configured desk day in and day out, for example, can play havoc with your back.
“And air quality is also tremendously important, especially now we are in a world where Covid exists and fresh air is absolutely vital.”
Just over half of the 2,000 working adults polled have been injured at work – from a scratch to a broken bone.
And the main cause of injury risk was deemed to be mental – overworked employees at risk of burnout (27%).
Another 23% regularly work around cables they believe could be a tripping hazard, while 19% say they don’t get any natural light.
A further one in five have worked places that have had spillages that have not been cleaned up, and 15% have seen plug sockets overloaded with electrical items.
One in four respondents confess to not knowing their company’s fire policy – and the same amount have reported a health hazard, only to see it ignored.
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Sleep symptoms and issues to see your GP about – including tingling legs
As many as three in ten have actually quit a job because they felt it was too dangerous, according to the OnePoll.com data.
More than a tenth (13%) of office workers report their office windows don’t open, depriving them of a fresh breeze.
And yet one in three (34%) believe the only “really dangerous” workplaces are physical ones like building sites or warehouses – not offices.
And almost three-quarters (seven in ten) say offices are simply not dangerous workplaces at all.
The spokesman for Andrews Air Quality added: “The research shows there’s definitely some more education to be done in terms of dangers at work.
“Just because you’re not at risk of being run over by a forklift, doesn’t mean you can’t be at risk in other ways.
“All workplace managers should – especially as offices start to re-open – be working hard to ensure everyone’s safety.”
The full results of the study can be found here.
THE TOP 20 HEALTH AND SAFETY BREACHES SEEN IN BRITISH WORKPLACES:
- Overworked employees who may succumb to stress and burnout
- Cables that someone could trip over
- No natural light
- Spillages that nobody is cleaning up
- Bad ventilation
- Wet floors without a “wet floor” sign
- Loose flooring
- Overloaded plug sockets
- Blocked fire escapes
- People not wearing the proper safety equipment
- Exposed wires
- No fire training
- Windows that don't have safety catches
- People operating heavy machinery without proper licensing/training
- Electrical equipment next to water sources
- No emergency lighting
- A fire extinguisher that you know doesn't work
- Mislabelled chemicals
- Fire alarms that don't work
- Broken air purifier
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