Engaging frontline teams in health and safety: closing the culture gap

Keeping your business and people safe from health and safety risks | 4 minute read

Safety culture is not posters or policies. It is what people do when the supervisor is not standing beside them. For organisations with frontline teams, the biggest challenge is often connection: making sure people feel informed, listened to and supported to speak up about risk.

Key takeaways

1. A weak safety culture increases risk. When frontline teams feel disconnected, critical information is missed, unsafe shortcuts become normal and incident reporting declines.

2. Safety engagement is driven by clear, practical communication. Relevant briefings, accessible information and consistent supervisor follow-up make safe behaviours easier to maintain day to day.

3. Improving safety culture does not mean more paperwork. Simple touchpoints, visible follow-through and well-equipped line leaders build trust, encourage reporting and reduce enforcement and people risks.

Why culture matters for safety

When your employees feel disconnected, information is missed, unsafe shortcuts become normal, and reporting drops. Over time, that increases the likelihood of serious incidents and enforcement risk in your organisation.

75%

of frontline workers said they felt isolated from their company culture and community.

Source: Oak Engage

74%

said disconnection makes them more likely to leave their role.

Source: Oak Engage

Key frontline engagement statistics

Recent research in the UK, based on a survey of 1,000 frontline workers (October 2025), highlights the scale of the disconnect:

75% of frontline workers said they felt isolated from their company culture and community.
45% said they had missed a critical update at work due to communication issues, and 37% said it was hard to access important information when they needed it.
74% said disconnection makes them more likely to leave their role.

While these figures are from the UK, the challenges are familiar in Irish sectors with deskless teams such as retail, hospitality, construction, manufacturing and logistics.

What ‘engaged in safety’ looks like in practice

People report hazards and near misses without fear or hassle.
Safety briefings are clear, relevant and linked to real tasks and recent learnings.
Supervisors communicate clearly and consistently, and follow up on issues raised.
Employees see action taken, making reporting feel worthwhile.

Practical steps to improve your safety engagement in 2026

If you want to move the dial, focus on practical communication and involvement in your health and safety, not more paperwork:

Make safety information easy to reach. One place to find procedures, alerts and checklists on mobile, with simple language.
Use bite sized, regular touchpoints. Incorporate daily huddles, toolbox talks and short shift handovers into your team’s routine that prioritises today’s risks.
Equip line leaders. Give your supervisors a simple structure for safety conversations and coaching, and support them with communication skills.
Close the loop. Show what changed after a report, even if the answer is ‘not yet’ and why.
Measure what matters. Track reporting rates, completion of briefings, and repeat issues by location or team.

A quick self-check for your organisation

Ask a sample of frontline employees three questions:

If you spotted a safety issue today, would you know how to report it?
Do you believe something would happen if you did?
Can you quickly find the safety information you need to do your job safely?

If the answers are inconsistent, the issue is rarely a lack of policy. It is usually an issue of clarity, access and follow through.

How NFP Ireland can help

NFP Ireland supports organisations with practical health and safety and people risk solutions, including safety culture reviews, toolbox talk content, manager training and support with incident reporting and investigation processes.

When safety information is relevant, timely and easy to access, people are more likely to speak up, cooperate and follow safe systems of work. Engagement is not a campaign - it is a habit you build into everyday operations.

Dr. Paul Cummins, PhD.
CEO of SeaChange, an NFP company

Want to see how we can help?

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This insights article is not intended to address any specific situation or to provide legal, regulatory, financial, or other advice. While care has been taken in the production of this article, NFP does not warrant, represent or guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, completeness or fitness for any purpose of the article or any part of it and can accept no liability for any loss incurred in any way by any person who may rely on it. Any recipient shall be responsible for the use to which it puts this article. This article has been compiled using information available to us up to its date of publication.

NFP contributors

Dr. Paul Cummins, PhD.
CEO of SeaChange, an NFP company

References