Bosses are putting other business concerns ahead of worker safety, according to a survey of employees carried out by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

Just seven per cent of those surveyed said that they believed their boss placed worker health and safety as their main concern, with 14 per cent claiming that they felt health and safety was not important to their boss.

"These workers’ views suggest that there’s still a minority of employers out there who simply don’t give a damn about their staff. There are some who still think it’s okay to cut corners and put their staff at risk, and that’s not acceptable," said Ray Hurst, president of the IOSH.

Around a third (31 per cent) felt that customer and client happiness was their boss’s number one concern, with around a quarter (26 per cent) believing getting work done on time was their manager’s top priority.

Earlier this week, the Trades Union Congress called on firms to give better occupational health assistance to the estimated two million employees each year who are made ill by their employment.