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Program DevelopmentProgram Development Effective Safety Incentives A pilot program based on risk reduction
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Sheehy, Edward J. |
| Copyright Year | 2004 |
| Abstract | WHAT SAFETY DIRECTOR hasn’t searched for ways to motivate employees to perform safely? The task would be much easier if focused on increasing sales or production. Those areas are emphasized by business schools, so managers understand how to measure them and most have extensive experience developing incentive programs based on employee accomplishments. In safety, however, the emphasis often is not on easily measured things employees do or produce; instead, it is on accidents that do not occur. A typical safety incentive might be a rewards luncheon when no accidents were reported the previous month. The safety director is told that employees need praise and recognition, yet is cautioned against allowing payout for safety to become entitlement. This article discusses how this situation played out in the warehouse and shop operations of a large electrical utility. It describes the organization’s effort to eliminate a traditional incentive program in which awards were based solely on not having accidents. It discusses a three-month experiment with a new type of safety initiative based on demonstrated reduction of risk before accidents can manifest. The discussion includes: •Cultural issues addressed. These included feelings of fairness and entitlement that arose when other parts of the company continued to award incentives as long as no reportable injuries occurred. •Implementation details, including a practical set of metrics. Basing incentives on improved safety requires tools that quantify risk reduction. The method used to achieve this is described in enough detail to allow others to adapt it. Although the method features some subjective elements, it is objective enough to be perceived as fair by workers. •Benefits realized. Limitations that remain to be overcome are described as well. •Conclusions based on results. The author also speculates about the balance between sustainability of benefits realized and concern about creating a new sense of entitlement. •Next steps. This discussion includes a set of criteria for future incentive programs that are to be based on risk reduction. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://aeasseincludes.assp.org/professionalsafety/pastissues/049/02/040204as.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
