Businesses Urged to Strengthen Incident Reporting as Underreporting Masks Workplace Risks

Health and safety professionals are warning that underreporting of workplace incidents is becoming a growing concern across several business sectors, potentially masking underlying risks and limiting organisations’ ability to prevent harm.

Industry reviews suggest that while formal reporting systems are widely in place, not all incidents - particularly near misses and minor injuries - are being consistently recorded.

Advisers say the issue is being observed in construction, manufacturing, logistics, facilities management and office-based environments, where pressures on productivity and performance can discourage reporting. In some cases, employees are reluctant to report incidents due to concerns about blame, disruption to work or perceived impact on performance metrics.

A spokesperson for the Health and Safety Executive said accurate reporting is fundamental to effective risk management. “Employers rely on incident data to identify hazards and take corrective action. Where incidents are not reported, opportunities to prevent more serious events may be missed,” the spokesperson said.

Safety consultants report that underreporting can create a misleading picture of performance, with organisations appearing to improve on paper while underlying risks remain unchanged. “Low incident numbers do not always indicate a safe workplace,” said Karen Mitchell, an occupational safety adviser. “In some cases, they indicate that issues are not being captured or addressed.”

Auditors have identified several contributing factors, including complex reporting processes, lack of feedback following reported incidents and limited engagement from management. Where employees do not see visible action resulting from reports, they may be less likely to raise concerns in future.

Industry bodies say the challenge is particularly relevant in organisations with multiple sites or large numbers of contractors, where consistency of reporting can be difficult to maintain. In such environments, incidents may be recorded differently or not shared across teams, reducing the organisation’s ability to identify patterns or systemic issues.

Trade unions have also raised concerns, suggesting that cultural factors play a significant role. “Workers need to feel confident that reporting an incident will lead to improvement, not criticism,” said a representative from a national union. “A blame culture discourages openness and increases the risk of serious accidents.”

Some businesses are responding by simplifying reporting processes, introducing digital tools to capture incidents in real time and increasing communication around lessons learned. Others are placing greater emphasis on leadership engagement, encouraging managers to actively promote reporting and demonstrate that concerns are taken seriously.

Health and safety specialists say improving reporting culture is a key step in strengthening overall performance. Mitchell added: “The organisations that manage risk effectively are the ones that seek out information, not avoid it. Reporting is the starting point for understanding where things can go wrong.”

As regulatory expectations continue to focus on proactive risk management, accurate and consistent incident reporting is expected to remain a priority area. For organisations operating under structured health and safety management systems such as ISO 45001, the ability to demonstrate how incidents are recorded, analysed and used to drive improvement is a critical component of effective safety governance.

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