Survey shows workers avoid discipline because managers play favorites

Heads up: When it comes to enforcing your employer’s safety rules, it’s never a good idea to play favorites.

That’s your takeaway from a newly released survey showing that 38% of 503 blue-collar employees in the U.S. reported that they’d seen their coworkers violating safety rules without being disciplined.

Workers who responded to the survey conducted by Tradesafe pointed to several factors that protect certain people from discipline for safety infractions, including favoritism by supervisors (39%), seniority (36%), high productivity (19%) and job title or role (19%).

The survey also revealed why many staffers won’t report a near miss. Fully 25% of respondents had witnessed a near miss within the past year but didn’t report it.

According to the data, 36% of employees said they didn’t report a near miss because they didn’t think anything would change. One in five (20%) said they feared retaliation from management for reporting a near miss, 17% weren’t sure whether the near miss was serious enough and 12% didn’t report a near miss due to peer pressure.

(From the August 17, 2026, issue of Safety Alert for Supervisors. To start your no-obligation trial subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)