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IOSH Survey – Women and young OSH workers need more support

Published on: 16 Aug 2024

The gender pay gap in health and safety has widened, and the average age of OSH professionals is increasing, an IOSH survey of more than 2,700 OSH practitioners’ pay and conditions has suggested.

IOSH Survey – Women and young

According to the poll, the median pay for all full-time female health and safety practitioners in the latest poll is £45,000, compared with £50,000 for males. The £5000 disparity is substantially wider than the £2000 gap between male and female OSH practitioners’ average pay in IOSH’s previous two polls.

This 10% difference in gender pay is also higher than the UK government’s 2023 all-occupations gender pay gap figure of 7.7% for full-time workers.

Louis Wustemann who analysed the survey data for IOSH Magazine said: “There is nothing in the make-up of the male and female groups in our current poll (seniority, age or sector) that offers an easy explanation for the higher differential.” Even when non-UK survey respondents are excluded from the analysis, the pay gap continues to exist.

In terms of statistical extremes, the IOSH survey revealed that at the lower end of the pay range, the outliers largely matched the whole sample for age and gender. But at the upper end, those paid more than £150,000 were all male.

Age concerns

If the results around women’s pay are disappointing, the statistics regarding the age of survey respondents also pose some cause for concern.

Respondents aged 55 and above formed 29% of the total cohort, up from 26.5% in IOSH’s 2022 survey. Meanwhile, the proportion of respondents under 35 has fallen slightly since IOSH’s last poll, from 16% to 14%.

In more positive news, the proportion of women has increased in the younger age groups, rising from 29% to 39% among respondents aged 25 to 34. Overall, the gender split is essentially the same as two years ago: 69.5% of OSH professionals identified as male and 29.8% as female.

“The survey results have flagged some areas where we are determined to see continued improvements,” Nicole Rinaldi, IOSH director of professional services, said.

“The gender pay gap is one, and the reduction in respondents under the age of 35 indicates that we need to do more to attract younger people into the profession. We will be reviewing this and considering the best ways to respond.”

Good for IOSH members

The survey also identified another pay gap between respondents, although this is far better news for IOSH members.

The median salary for full-time non-member respondents – albeit based on a relatively small sample of 89 people – was £40,000. That is fifth below the median for the whole survey – £50,000 – and almost a third lower than the median for IOSH Chartered Members working full time.

In the Chartered grade, which is directly comparable with IOSH’s previous survey, the median salary was £59,000, 11% higher than the £53,000 in 2022. Those in the new Certified grade earn an average £50,000, in line with the median for the whole sample. In 2022 the figure for the old equivalent GradIOSH membership was £44,000, 13% lower.

In answer to whether their pay has risen since becoming Chartered Members, around one in three of those in the most recent survey sample said their earnings had increased.

“It’s of interest that the mean salary of IOSH members was higher than that of non-members, although the sample size of the latter group was relatively small. This demonstrates that being an IOSH member can have a positive effect on how you are paid as an OSH professional,” Nicole said.

Read more about the survey results in depth here.

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