If you’re thinking about establishing a safety incentive program, or want to improve an existing one, here are some comments—pro and con—from your colleagues, courtesy of their postings in Safety.BLR.com’s EHS Forum.
Safety Bingo
“I work for a construction company and we have played Safety Bingo for the last 5 years. Our program is divided up by crew and monetarily driven. Any crew that has a preventable incident/accident, does not wear its PPE, or has equipment damage is disqualified for the month. I pick five numbers every week until someone hits BINGO. The B-Safe winner receives $200 and each member of his or her crew receives $40. Some of our crews have more than 30 employees working together. Our shop monitors maintenance and damage and notifies me of any abuse or damage. We were concerned at first that incidents and accidents would not be reported, but this has not happened. Our experience modification (EMOD) rating reflects this. Our program costs our company somewhere between $6,500–$8,000 a year. A safety incentive program does not need to be complicated; it just needs buy-in by everyone, and we have accomplished this.”
Incentive or Disincentive?
“A lot of these incentive system rewards are based on chance, not on concrete actions. We are deliberating changing our incentive program and some on our committee are tired of having programs in which someone is chosen a winner, spins a wheel, has the right numbers line up, etc.
Don’t these kinds of incentives end up frustrating those who may have complied and excelled but didn’t ‘draw a lucky number’?”
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Safety Bucks
“We used to have a monthly bonus per department for ‘No recordable accidents’ but ran into the problem of people not reporting accidents because they didn’t want to be responsible for their department losing the safety bonus. So we got together a committee and came up with our Safety Bucks program that works great. We had Safety Bucks printed in different denominations and the employees are rewarded for safety suggestions, hazard recognition, attending safety-related training (such as CPR, accident investigation, etc.), writing job safety analysis (JSA), etc. They are also rewarded for coming up with corrective actions when we do have an accident or incident, and answering safety questions correctly when we have our departmental safety meetings. Then every quarter we purchase prizes using our safety program budget and we have a silent auction. They bid on the prizes with their Safety Bucks. It is a lot of fun and those who don’t get a big prize at the auction get smaller safety incentives and can use their ‘bucks’ at the next auction. That way, no one is ‘punished’ for an accident and everyone has incentive for prevention. It has worked well for us.”
Programs “Lagging” Behind?
“You are wise to be cautious when you think about safety incentive programs. Frequently they become nightmares that cause injury-hiding, entitlement mentality, and more. The biggest problem is that most companies start by rewarding lagging indicators. Safety Bingo and other gimmicks are only effective for a short time.”
Everyday Prevention
“We created a fun safety incentive program that gives out rewards based on everyday prevention actions. Our program is called ‘Busted.’ We have raffle tickets, and, as a lead person or supervisor catches any employee doing something safe (perhaps helping a co-worker move a large object without being asked) they give them a ticket. We also engage an ‘undercover’ employee who observes co-workers. At the end of their ‘term,’ the safe acts that they have written down in a notebook are evaluated, and tickets are given out at that time. This insures that employees aren’t just ‘acting’ safe in front of supervisors. We then have a bimonthly drawing where one of the winners is picked and given a $10 gift card. The program is reasonably priced, involves the employees, and it has helped us decrease our sprain/strain and slip/fall incidents tremendously.”
Competition Leads to Cover-up
“I have found that competitions between departments can lead to cover-up of near-miss accidents and incidents because the departments do not want to compromise their record. However, I have had a great deal of success in implementing a Safety Improvement Suggestion Program that identifies “Potential” as well as existing issues that require action for mitigation. The Employee Safety Committee then judges the submissions quarterly and issues an award to the individual or team with the best submission. Because this award is coming from a committee made up entirely of their peers and not management, it also bolsters recognition by fellow employees.”
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Awareness-Raising
“I think the reason most safety incentives fail is that they begin with the wrong premise. Those who hate incentive programs claim, ‘I tried them and they did not reduce accidents.’ Incentive programs first and foremost raise awareness of safety performance, rather than reduce accidents. Getting employees thinking about safety behavior is the first step to getting employees acting safely. Incentive promotions and programs can deliver that key ingredient if implemented properly and with a clear understanding of purpose.”
Tune in tomorrow for more pros and cons of safety incentive programs.
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As a safety professional I studies what other companies considered successful incentive programs and made my recommendation to the rest of the executive team. In 2007 we opted to put our safety slogan on three very nice gifts and sent them to the 130 locations we had in the field. The idea was for the managers to give out the gifts when they observed an employee doing something to reduce worker injuries or patron injuries or to keep a fellow employee from getting hurt or identifying a safety hazard. The results were mixed. Some managers and their employees bought into the program while others wanted nothing to do with it.
Later in 2007 the executive team met and one of the items my agenda was what we could do about worker injuries because the incentive gifts didn’t work. Nearly to a person the recommendation was to have a program involving money. Our employees make just over minimum wage and the gifts didn’t hit home. Money would. So, it was back to the drawing board and I came up with the Safety Bonus Program. Everyone liked the concept and we decided to run a test for the last quarter of 2007.
The idea behind the Safety Bonus Program was that if a location went an entire quarter without a reportable workers’ comp injury, everyone at that location would receive $25.00. There were other criteria to meet the requirements including no property damage and completing the monthly Safety Talk (training). The 4th quarter results were amazing. The total number of incidents in that quarter were the lowest for any quarter in the year. Even with this success the incidents from the previous 3 quarters made 2007 a bad year for numbers of workers’ comp claims. However, the 4th quarter success was enough for us to continue the program into 2008.
The results were that the number of claims for 2008 fell by 48% and the money we spent on the bonus program kept us under budget for workers’ comp claims for the year, including those from prior years.
We continued the program for 2009 and through the first 11 months of the year we are 25% below 2008 numbers for the same period. We expect that we will be significantly under budet for this year.
I have had people tell me that there are better programs but I will tell anyone that money talks to our employees. And, based upon our information we are still having all incidents reported. I really believe that the important thing is to find what works for your company. This Safety Bonus Program plus everything else that makes up our safety program have made a difference.
This post was mentioned on Twitter by BLR_EHS: SafetyDailyAdvisor- Pros and Cons of Safety Incentive Programs http://ow.ly/16eIR6
Jwwiley thanks for your sharing.
i was thinking a method not in money related. But all failed.
I agree workers behavior need to change. for ref.- my company has many old timers that would not like new concept.
i would like to try your concept. hopefully it works.
Thanks.
The Pros and Cons of Safety Incentive programs listed talked about how the incentive program works or of how the program did not work. One incite was in the last short article talking about why an incentive program is developed and implemented. An incentive program is not a Safety program but is part of a Safety program that may or may not work. Would it not be more productive to look at the entire Safety program if there is a shift in employee behavior that results in a shift in an injury rate? Employees are Human Beings, Human Beings make mistakes, damage and injury happens. First, look at the overall Safety Program and ask a few questions; Why have a Safety Program, What type of Safety Program is in place, Where/How is the monitoring of the Safety Program, Can you Successfully Defend Safety Program in the event of a disaster?