While safety needs are less immediate or demanding than the physiological needs, when one loses one's job, family, home, life savings, health insurance, etc, one is likely to feel terribly insecure and unprotected.
Fulfilling the safety needs might be likened to providing a bumper or airbags on a car; while you don't always need them, having them gives you some confidence that you can face minor bumps and bruises along the road of life