Major Industrial Companies Hide Workplace Risks by Excluding Contractor Data
New York, Sunday, 18 October 2026.
A 2026 study reveals that most major industrial companies omit contractor injury data and working hours, concealing significant operational and compliance risks from investors and regulators.
Transparency Gaps in Safety Metrics
On October 18, 2026, SDS Manager released the “Contractor Safety Disclosure Report 2026,” analyzing 600 safety figures across 40 of the world’s largest industrial companies [1]. The study reveals that while 31 of the 40 companies clearly indicate that fatality counts include contractors, only 26 explicitly incorporate contractor injury data into their published safety rates [1][2]. This discrepancy means that roughly 65% of the analyzed firms confirm contractor inclusion in injury rates, calculated as 65 [1][2]. Furthermore, transparency regarding hours worked is significantly lower, with only 7 out of the 40 analyzed companies publishing the specific contractor hours required to verify injury rate accuracy [1]. This lack of data creates a significant blind spot for enterprise leaders and board members who rely on incomplete safety data to assess operational risk [1].
Sector-Specific Disclosure Rates
The analysis highlights distinct variations in reporting standards across different industrial sectors, specifically mining, energy, construction, and manufacturing [1]. Disclosure of contractor hours is extremely low overall, with all 7 companies publishing this data in FY2025 confined to the mining and energy sectors [1]. In contrast, the construction and manufacturing sectors performed the worst in disclosure, with zero of the 20 companies in these sectors publishing contractor hours in FY2025 [1]. Additionally, researchers were unable to locate nearly half of the targeted serious-injury figures, specifically 58 of 120, and found 108 of 400 figures from FY2024–FY2025 to be non-comparable year-over-year due to changing definitions [1]. This inconsistency hampers the ability of stakeholders to compare safety performance across the industry timeline [2].
Implications for ESG and Risk Management
The discrepancy between direct employee safety reporting and contractor safety reporting undermines the integrity of ESG disclosures, leaving investors and stakeholders with an incomplete picture of operational risk [1]. Arysha Alif Khan, Product Compliance Manager at SDS Manager, noted that contractors often do the riskiest work, yet many companies do not state if injury rates count them [1]. Khan emphasized that a rate counting only employees can make a company look safer than the work it directs, suggesting that one line specifying who a figure covers closes the gap [1]. As the report covers data from FY2023–FY2025, these findings indicate persistent issues in how industrial firms manage liability and vendor oversight across large supply chains [1].