Anonymous Surveys as an HSE Tool. How to Find Hidden Risks and Build an Open Dialogue with Employees?

Every HSE professional spends a lot of time on occupational risk assessment procedures. While there are many methodologies, unfortunately, not all of them are perfect. Often, when searching for the root causes of incidents, we conclude that risks were underestimated and the precursors were not identified in time.

At the same time, the workers performing the tasks are more likely to notice these very precursors and risks, but they will not always speak up about them. The reasons can vary: they are afraid of airing dirty laundry, do not want to get their supervisor in trouble, fear punishment, or the general team culture is "we've always done it this way...".

In this article, we will explore how to turn an anonymous survey from a mere formality into an effective tool for finding and eliminating risks hiding in the "blind spots" of your production, and how it helps transition to an open dialogue.

Why are walkarounds and inspections alone not enough?

Regular planned walkarounds, audits, and inspections have a significant drawback: they capture the situation at a specific moment in time. Moreover, in the presence of management and HSE specialists, workers usually follow all the rules, but as soon as they leave, they return to their usual, yet not always safe, "shortcuts".

It is these deviations from procedures and hidden compromises between speed and safety that cause most incidents. There is only one way to find out about them: by asking the employees themselves. But to get an honest answer, you must guarantee them psychological safety. And an anonymous survey provides exactly this kind of psychological safety.

Advantages of anonymous surveys for identifying risks

• Direct access to the truth. Anonymity removes the fear of punishment, management, or ridicule from colleagues. People share real stories, not just the "right" ones.
• Early warning and identification of systemic issues. You receive signals about problems before they lead to a negative event.
• Increased engagement. When employees see that their feedback actually leads to changes, their trust in management and personal responsibility for safety grow.
• Cost-effectiveness. The cost of conducting a survey is incomparably lower than the losses from accidents, downtime, or compensation payouts.

Practical guide: how to conduct an effective anonymous survey.

Step 1. Define the goal. Do not ask about "everything". Focus on a specific topic: "Cardinal rules for working at heights", "Workplace ergonomics", or "Risks during loading and unloading operations".

Step 2. Guarantee 100% anonymity. Use third-party specialized online survey services (Google Forms, Yandex Forms, SurveyMonkey, etc.). It is critically important not to collect any personal data: IP addresses, names, or device information. Inform employees about complete anonymity at the very beginning of the survey.

Step 3. Formulate the right questions. The survey should be short enough (5-10 minutes) so as not to scare off participants. For the survey to be effective, the questions must align with the survey's goal and be specific, open-ended, and thought-provoking. Include a question in the questionnaire about the location where the problem occurs; this information is necessary for prompt risk identification and targeted response to the issue.

Examples of effective questions:

1. To find unsafe operations: "Are there any operations in your work that you cannot perform without violating the Cardinal Safety Rules? Please describe the operation and the risk. Specify the location of the hazard (area or equipment)."
2. To identify hidden practices: "Please describe if there are operations in your work where you or your colleagues sometimes deviate from official instructions to complete a task faster or easier? Why does this happen?"
3. To identify obstacles to safe work: "Have you encountered situations where you had to be inventive or find workarounds to perform a task safely? What hindered you? (e.g., lack of time, faulty tools, unsuitable PPE)."
4. To evaluate equipment and tools: "Which equipment or tool at your workplace do you consider to be the most inconvenient or potentially dangerous to use? Why?"

Step 4. Communication and launch. Distributing the questionnaire via corporate email, messengers, or posting it on notice boards without "live" communication is less effective. Personal interaction fosters more openness and trust, as the interlocutor can read your genuine emotions. When explaining the goals of the survey, be sure to tell employees:

• you are looking for risks, not violators, and that you want to make their work safe,
• no problem will be left without attention and feedback,
• if no one knows about a problem, then no one is solving it.

Proper communication is the key to success.

Step 5. Analyzing results and making decisions. Together with the line manager, go to the workplace, observe the operation, and talk to the workers who directly perform these operations or face the risk. It is important not to interrogate the workers, but to encourage an open dialogue and ask for their expertise: "We see a problem here. How do you think it can be solved?". Plan and implement measures to eliminate/reduce the risk, and escalate the issue to a higher level if necessary.

Step 6. Feedback. This is a very important stage! Without this step, trust will be undermined, and employees are unlikely to be frank next time.

Who provides feedback? – ideally, the direct supervisor together with the HSE specialist.

When to provide feedback?

• After the survey. Be sure to inform the team about the survey results and the specific measures that will be taken. For example, "Based on your answers, we will purchase new tools and revise the instructions within two weeks." Do not ignore a single appeal, even if the problem is not confirmed: if workers are reaching out, it means something "hurts," and it is necessary to understand the causes of this pain. Most often in such cases, workers simply lack information on how to do things safely. Speak openly to employees about difficulties in implementing measures, but do not hide behind production plans.
• During the implementation of the measure. If the measure has a long execution time, inform workers about each stage (budget allocation / procurement / delivery / installation, etc.).
• After the measure is implemented, inform the workers about it.

Step 7. Analyzing the effectiveness of implemented measures. Go to the workplace and request feedback from the workers performing the operation. Sometimes the first solution turns out to be ineffective or inconvenient to implement (time-consuming, requires excessive physical effort, worsens workplace ergonomics, etc.). If the solution is inconvenient, dissatisfaction grows, and there is a risk that workers will not use it. The willingness to refine solutions shows the seriousness of your intentions.

A practical example. During an anonymous survey, drivers of large loaders reported that they had to climb onto a high hood to wipe dust off the windshield. The first solution — issuing water brushes — did not catch on (inconvenient, leaves streaks, hindered by the protective grille on the windshield). After feedback from the drivers, a second, more costly but effective solution was adopted: installing stationary maintenance platforms. The risk was eliminated.

Conclusion

Employee distrust is overcome only by consistent actions and fulfilling promises. Seeing real results, employees will increasingly report risks to you without fear of consequences. The experience of the Bystrinsky GOK shows that at the beginning of conducting surveys, up to 80% of "hidden" unsafe operations were identified through anonymous surveys, but thanks to systematic work and regular feedback, this percentage dropped to 20%. Employees believed that their voice matters and began to report problems openly.

An anonymous employee survey is not just a "check mark" in an HSE report. It is an opportunity to look behind the scenes of production processes and see what you will never see from an office or during a planned walkaround.

By investing time in creating an honest feedback system, you invest in the most valuable things — human lives, health, and production stability.