Section 2:
Usage of digital tools and incident reporting
Most incidents are reported directly to a manager, with feedback and information about incidents coming from the manager as well.
When asked, most workers in the USA and Canada knew how to report incidents at their workplace, and 61% say they report them to their immediate manager.
This trend carried over to how workers received information about incidents that occurred. Most workers typically received this information from their managers, with email and department meetings in 2nd and 3rd place.
Most workers in both the U.S. and Canada prefer to report incidents verbally to a manager, ahead of email (2nd), computer (3rd), or mobile options (4th). This preference is especially strong in Canada, where a significantly higher percentage favor face-to-face reporting.
Comparisons with the UK and Ireland:
While 41% of North American workers prefer reporting incidents via computer or mobile, the figure rises to 48% in the UK & Ireland, suggesting potentially greater comfort with digital tools across the Atlantic.
Research shows that organizations that actively embrace new technologies are likely see significant improvements in productivity, efficiency, and innovation. As mobile tools continue to evolve, we expect mobile adoption to rise in the ranks in years to come in order for businesses to remain competitive.
Digital safety tools and training are valued — and clearly improve outcomes.
In our survey, 70% of workers in the USA and Canada indicated that they would feel safer at work if their employer used more digital tools for workplace safety.
Interestingly, we found that 81% of respondents in the 18-34 year old age bracket strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that they would feel safer with digital tools. This was compared to 73% of 35-49 year olds and just 55% of 50-65 year olds.
Enquiring after employer’s efforts to improve workplace safety, our results showed that 69% of respondents in the USA and Canada were provided with competency training. Following this, 79% said that this involved e-learning or digital training modules. This is in contrast to figures from the UK and Ireland, where 74% of respondents received competency training with 86% of those indicating it was delivered through e-learning or digital modules.
Those receiving competency training can be broken down to:
in the USA
in Canada
Utilising AI – seen as promising, but confidence is cautious
AI has become more than a buzzword. Globally, it is changing the way many businesses are operating and drastically transforming workflows. AI adoption has even made its way into government strategy in the USA and Canada.
In January 2025, President Trump issued an executive order aimed at U.S. leadership in artificial in AI by eliminating policies that were seen as obstacles to innovation and competitiveness. Trump believes this policy will strengthen national security and economic growth.
Canada is also exploring the use of AI technologies in order to improve their digital services and increase efficiencies.
With this in mind, our survey asked if respondents believed AI could improve their workplace safety. One in five North American workers believe AI could definitely improve workplace safety, and lots more see potential depending on implementation. We also noted that US workers were not as optimistic about this as Canadian workers.
We also wanted to gain a better understanding of how the responses to our question on AI were distributed across age brackets.
We found the most positive responses among the 18-34 age group, with 27% saying that they definitely saw that use of AI could improve workplace safety. This dropped slightly to 25% among the 35-49 age group and fell to just 13% among the 50-65 age category. This illustrates an (understandable) generational divide in attitudes toward AI.
Summary of Section 2
- Among workers in the USA and Canada, most incidents are reported directly to a manager.
- A vast majority of workers in the USA and Canada say that they would feel safer at work if their employer used more digital tools for workplace safety.
- Digital tools are being used heavily in delivering competency training.
- Results indicate that US workplaces lag slightly behind Canadian counterparts in digital adoption.
- Workers are curious about AI but not convinced. Implementation will be key to adoption.
- There is also a definite gap between age groups on AI-related responses.