The 2024 Workplace Safety Survey by Pie Insurance highlighted work temperature concerns and mental stress problems as workers’ primary issues in small businesses operating in the US.
“Our survey highlighted mental health as a silent-yet-pervasive workplace safety threat,” said the article accompanying the Pie Insurance survey.
“Insights from individual respondents via an open-ended question revealed a concerning trend, with many citing ‘mental health’, ‘mental stress’, and ‘anxiety’ as significant workplace injuries and work safety nightmares,” it said. “In fact, 13% of small business owners identified mental stress as the most common workplace injury experienced at their businesses in the past five years - with this figure soaring to 22% among younger entrepreneurs aged 18 to 34.”
The survey revealed that mental health-related injuries were not confined to a specific industry but affected most.
“Interestingly,” said the survey report, “those in less physical industries were actually more likely to point to mental health claims as the most common injury faced in their workplace. From media and arts (19%) and finance (24%) to research, engineering, and IT (36%), small businesses are grappling with the repercussions of workplace stressors, underscoring the urgent need for proactive intervention.”
Meanwhile, 31% of the respondents pointed to employees airing their concerns about the rising workplace temperature during the hot summer months since it affects their work. Unfortunately, 35% of the respondents said that they have no specific plan, nor do they plan to do something to address the workplace temperature concern.
However, it is unforeseen hazards that the respondents consider their “worst nightmare”. Workplace violence and natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, and cyclones are included in the list of unforeseen hazards feared by small business owners.
Pie Insurance commissioned the British internet-based market research and data analytics firm YouGov to conduct the survey. The survey was conducted purely online, from February 19–27, with 1,034 small and medium-sized companies based in the US.
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