The percentage of female safety professionals in the transportation industry grew to an average of 41.6% in 2023, according to a recent report.

In a survey published by the Women In Trucking Association, entitled “Women In Trucking Index: Gender Diversity Data 2023,” almost 30% of the companies that participated in the study (29.1%) said that 20% to 49% of their safety positions were held by women. Over a quarter of participants (25.4%) said that women hold 50% to 89% of safety roles. Almost 16% of those surveyed (15.8%) said 90% of their safety roles were occupied by women.

Over 10% of companies (13.3%) said that women hold between 1% and 19% of their safety positions. Another 16.4% of businesses said they have no female safety professionals working for their company.

“Safety professionals possess a comprehensive understanding of procedures and protocol that have a profound impact on risk mitigation, minimizing safety threats or challenges, and overall workforce safety and wellness,” said Jennifer Hedrick, president of WIT. “This is a critical component of our industry and an area of immense opportunity for women to build technical and leadership skills.”

The Women in Trucking Association, which has roughly 8,000 members in 10 countries, surveyed 470,000 drivers from 350 organizations for the 2023 WIT Index from January 2023 to April 2023. Very large companies, that have over 10,000 employees, made up 14.2% of responders in the survey while 13.4% represented organizations with 1,000 to 4,999 employees. Another 23.1% of participating companies had less than 50 employees. Medium-sized businesses (50 to 499 employees) had the highest level of representation making up 33.8% of all responders.