IMPROVING EMPLOYEE SAFETY BEHAVIOR
INCENTIVE / ACCOUNTABILITY PROGRAMS
In today’s competitive marketplace, continuous improvement is often times the difference between corporate survival and disaster. Safety is one way companies can increase competitiveness and reduce waste. First, employees must be motivated to work safely. This process is completed two ways, (1) correcting weaknesses and, (2) building upon strengths. One segment of the employee population tends to perform their works safely and become involved within company safety and health programs. Typically, the performance of these people is effectively reinforced when it is formally recognized by management. The other segment of the work force gives safety little attention. In addition, it is rare when employees who perform tasks unsafely receive negative reinforcement of any kind.
We recommend that employee performance appraisals have an assessment of the individual’s safety and health contributions, performance and record. In other words, when financial gain is tied directly to the safety of an individual employee, the message is sent loud and clear to all employees.
Management should encourage employees to make safety suggestions that could improve the overall reduction of safety and health related losses.
Recognition may be as simple as posting the name and picture of the individual who has made a good safety suggestion on a bulletin board or in a company newsletter. A number of companies also have an “annual safety day” where outside experts are brought in to give presentations and discuss safety related issues. Also, there are recognition and award ceremonies that identify specific employees for their contribution to safety and health.
Management may also choose to provide recognition that reinforces safe job performance and safety and health awareness in the work force as a whole.
INCENTIVES / ACCOUNTABILITY PROGRAMS (examples)
Milestone Achievements:
These types of incentive programs are related to specific days without a lost time injury or accident. Typically, companies provide awards for 30, 60, 90, 180 and 365 days. The awards for the 30, 60 and 90 days are relatively small (donuts, pizza, lunch, caps, T-shirts, etc.). The 90 and 180 awards are usually larger (dinner for two to a local restaurant, jackets, sweatshirts, gas cards, etc.). The annual awards are typically the largest period. These could include $100 bill, a week-end at a local resort or a portion of the dividend obtained by the insurance/workers compensation program.
Performance Based Incentive:
These types of incentive programs are typically related to a workers compensation program that allows the company to receive dollars back in the form of a dividend. Here companies will allocate a portion of the dividend received to the incentive fund. Some companies will provide a lump sum payment to each employee on an annual basis. This award is divided equally among all employees. This program is typically more complicated for the administrators. Management will need to review past lost histories to identify loss trends. Then a goal must be set that is obtainable. Management will then set the ultimate goal of “0” accidents as the highest possible return, then in 10% increments, the total pay out will go down based upon the workers compensation losses that the company experiences. This allows all employees to participate, injured or not. Lastly, a large “shock loss” will ruin a year, animosity may be created.
Individual Safety Incentives:
Some companies utilize an individual safety incentive. This program typically rewards an employee on a quarterly basis for the previous quarter’s accident record. Some companies will pay employees $50 in cash for every quarter that they do not have a loss time accident. This money is handed out to employees on a quarterly basis at safety meetings. The employees that did have a loss time accident in the prior quarter will not receive the award for that quarter. This is a simple way to reward and penalize employees on a regular basis and ultimately can save many dollars in workers compensation costs, experience modification costs and downtime.
Overview
Safety incentive/accountability programs are not for every company. Typically, if an incentive/accountability program is instituted, it cannot be removed. We suggest a trial period to see if the program works. This trial period should be announced to all employees as a trial period. Then, if the program is successful it could be permanently instituted. As with any “employee benefit” the program needs to be in effect throughout the entire course of a person’s employment. Employee moral tends to become diminished if programs are introduced and removed on a frequent basis.
In conclusion, incentive/accountability programs have had mixed reviews. Some companies have experienced drastic reductions in losses and insurance premiums. Other companies have shown no effects at all. Overall, we believe it is a worthwhile cause to invest in an incentive/accountability program on a trial basis to see if it will fit within the safety culture at your facility.
Remember! Nothing outweighs a strong safety culture! If supervisors and managersexpectsafety excellence and lead by example, the chances are greater that losses will be lower. Great safety programs are mentioned in the company mission statement. New employees are given safety orientation, accidents are investigated and corrections are made. Safety excellence is what all companies will need to thrive in the future! Here are some examples of what other companies are doing:
SAFETY INCENTIVE PLANS (examples)
Description
A Safety incentive program has proven to be an effective management tool to heighten andmaintain the awareness of workers with regard to job site safety and health. Safety incentives:
- Help workers stay aware of safety and health issues.
- Make workers more likely to spot safety and health hazards.
- Make workers more likely to address the safety and health hazards they observe.
- Make workers more likely to watch out for the safety and health of co-workers.
- Help reduce the incidence of fraudulent injury/illness claims.
Quarterly Awards
- Drawing is held each quarter to give away $___bills to twenty eligible workers or lunch for everyone.
- To be eligible for the drawings, workers must:
- Not have incurred an OSHA Recordable Injury during the quarter.
- Not have been involved in a preventable accident with a company vehicle during the quarter.
- Have worked a minimum of 400 hours during the quarter.
- Be employed by the company at the time of the drawing.
Fiscal Year Award
- A drawing for $____cash award is held at the end of each fiscal year provided that there have been no tragic incidents such as a worker fatality during the course of the year and the company OSHA Recordable Incidence Rate does not exceed that of the national average.
- To be eligible for the drawing, workers must:
- Not have incurred an OSHA Recordable Injury during the fiscal year.
- Not have been involved in a preventable accident with a company vehicle during the fiscal year.
- Have worked a minimum of 1,600 hours during the fiscal year.
- Be employed by the company at the time of the drawing.
250,000 Hour Group Award
- A drawing for a $____cash award is held each time the company works 250,000 hours provided that:
- No OSHA Recordable Injuries have been incurred during the 250,000 hour time period.
- No worker was involved in a preventable accident with a company vehicle during the 250,000 hour time period.
- The winner must be employed by the company at the time of the drawing. Single awards can make the rest of the employees feel slighted.
Gas Cards
Each employee gets a _____dollar gas card if we go ______without a lost time injury.
Company Clothing
- Each employee that goes for 1 year without a lost time or vehicular accident gets $100 worth of company clothing.
- Offer company gear for those that submit a suggestion that gets implemented.
No Lost Time Challenge
Pick a prize and hold a safety meeting to stress the importance of zero injuries. Determine the length of time to go and offer a special group gift, trip, meal, etc… as a way of showing appreciation.
Behavior Bank Account
In this plan, ______dollars are “deposited” into an account for each eligible employee. The employee is guaranteed the whole amount in one year based on having no withdrawals. The company must employ the employee at the time of award. A withdrawal is made on their account whenever they have an occurrence of an unwanted behavior. At the end of the year, employees have a withdrawal meeting and everyone gets to see the amounts given out. This plan should be optional and employees should have the option to not participate. Employees cannot be charged if they have too many withdrawals. Many companies find that $500 is a meaningful amount. They also find that having these plans, long-term costs are reduced.
Here are some examples of Withdrawal’s
Lost time accident-$50
Causing injury to a fellow employee-$100
Property damage-$50
Failure to report an incident-$100
Damage to products-$50
Late for work-$25
No Call No Show-$50
Traffic Violation (drivers)-$50
Failure to give at least two safety suggestions per year -$50
You can also incorporate Wellness into the plan
Failure to participate in the wellness program -$100
Smoking -$100
No health Screenings -$100
If you want, you can have ways to add money…only if you have had deductions. The employee cannot exceed the original max amount.
Write a safety or health article for the newsletter +$50
Make a safety presentation (30 min) at a company meeting +$100
Give a safety suggestion that is implemented +$25
A Spreadsheet should be completed with the employee names and the deduction categories. The person in charge of incident reporting is the logical person to complete the form. All decisions are final.
Please contact your HNI representative to discuss these plans further.