SAFETY INCENTIVESSAFETY INCENTIVES

INTRODUCTION

• The top three objectives for implementing a safety incentive program were to:

1) change worker behavior to adopt safer work practices;

2) improve safety awareness among workers;

3) reduce recordable accidentsSafety programs always makes think of

safety incentives

Cont…• Firms challenge that their excellent

safety records exclusively due to their incentive programs

• incentives are designed to reward good safety performance

• An appropriate incentive will actually cause workers to alter their behavior in such a way that performance is improved.

• it is particularly interesting, so captures the mind of the workers

Cont…

• Becomes stale in the mind of workers can be a problem

• An incentive effective in the first year may not be effective in the second year.

• Change may be inevitable• Several issues are to be considered

when an incentive program. they are• Whose performance is to be rewarded?• How frequently will the awards be given?• What kind of performance will be

required to earn a reward?

Cont…

• How often must the award be changed?• Under such program, every worker is

encouraged to work safely• Workers are encouraged to look out for

the safety of fellow workers• The frequency is given importance,

they have a stake in reward

Cont…• It is more realistic to have rewards given

on a biweekly,monthly,or bimonthly basis• What kind of behavior is to be rewarded?• It is generally not considered appropriate

to issue rewards to a crew for having no lost time injuries

• Most realistic measure is first aid injuries or OSHA recordable injuries. They are more frequent events.

Cont…• Rewards should be denied when a crew

has safety violation by any member of the crew

• A reward for having no injuries or safety violation in a month might give a worker the option of receiving a coffee mug with company logo on it.

• Trading stamps as the incentive in few concerns. The worker would bring home the stamps, and the worker and spouse would begin to plan on certain gifts to acquire when a given no. of stamps earned.

Cont…• Safety rewards can seem to be gimmick

(trick or device)• If it works out, it will pay real dividends• The trick is ,first to find out what

gimmicks work• Second, it is thing important to

recognize when a gimmick has run its course

• It is better to change the reward before the workers tire of the old reward

• It is difficult to determine what type of award or gimmick will capture imagination of the workers

• If company catalog is planned, a significant number of awards might be available.

• The reward should never be so high that a worker will avoid reporting an injury in order to remain eligible for the reward

Safety performance and worker incentives

Forms of Safety Incentive Programs

• Safety incentive programs can be divided into

two categories: 1) injury/illness-based incentive

programs;2) behavior-based incentive

programs

Injury/illness-based safety incentive programs

• Based on the number of injuries and/or illnesses as a criterion to reward workers and crews

• Individuals or groups are rewarded for avoiding or lowering accidents during predefined periods

These programs work on the underlying assumptions that:

1) facilities and equipment are safe and donot cause any accidents;

2) workers have proper training and knowledge to use equipment; and

3) accidents are primarily the result of worker negligence or compromise on safety

• This programs may also provide false feedback and cause mistrust between workers and management

For example,suppose a crew makes a substantial effort to avoid injuries, yet unfortunately experiences an accident.As a result, this crew will not receive an incentive.

Meanwhile, another crew that makes no effort to avoid injury may manage to do so

and, thus, may still receive a reward

Behavior-Based Programs

• Observe worker behavior as a criterion for awarding incentives

• Examples of rewarded behavior include participating in safety meetings and training;

• Offering suggestions about how to improve jobsite safety;

• other behavior that can help prevent accidents

• Although such programs solve the problem of erroneous feedback and improve attendance in meetings and training, their effectiveness is still questioned.

• To address this problem, some sites determine program effectiveness through regular tests and by providing two-way feedback.

• These programs also help eliminate injury hiding by removing a direct link between an award and the number of accidents reported.

• Behavior-based observation can also provide data about equipment and facilities that put workers at risk for injury.

• A downside of this programs is that they are comparatively difficult to measure and monitor because employee behavior is inherently more complex and difficult to gauge

• In addition, employee behavior changes constantly in reaction to external factors such as new facilities, new equipment and new workgroups.

Other Issues with Safety IncentivePrograms

• In both types of incentive programs, motivation is a critical factor.

• Positive reinforcement, feedback, and recognition and reward are considered the four major components for motivation in an incentive program.

• which means anything that increases the desired behavior is considered the weakest and most misunderstood link

• Positive reinforcement can be a small gift or simple praise.

• Everyone has different likes and dislikes, which change over time, making reinforcement even harder to identify.

• Another important point about effective positive reinforcement is that its should immediately follow the desired behavior, which is why positive reinforcement should be a daily affair.

• Efficient incentives need to have more personal value than a significant dollar value.

• The dollar value of incentives is unimportant as long as the incentive is meaningful and a positive reinforcer to the worker

• Many successful programs rely on low-cost gifts with high perceived value for this very reason

10 categories of incentives were identified1. recognition; 2. time off;3. stock ownership;4. special assignments;5. advancement; 6. increased autonomy;7. training and education; 8. social gatherings;9. prizes; and10. money

• Some experts suggest that an incentive preceded by a celebration gives worker the opportunity to relive the event and further reinforce the behavior.

• Incentives and rewards should be specified and should be perceived as achievable

• Finally, incentives should be based on long-term progress rather than on short-term achievement

• Who will be rewarded is also an important consideration.

• incentives should be based on absolute criterion rather than competition to avoid unnecessary rifts among workers and crews

• It is also believed that it is better to reward many participants rather than an individual

• Likewise, a group should not be penalized for the failure of an individual’s action

• This is reflective of the belief that safety is a team effort and individuals do not cause accidents.

• Rather, accidents are the collective failure of the group.

• It is also found that incentives cannot work without a comprehensive safety program that addresses training, culture, drug testing and other critical elements

Measures of Safety Performance

• To quantify the effectiveness of safety incentive programs, four different measures of safety performance were collected as:

1) OSHA recordable cases. Cases when workers, due to an injury/illness sustained at work, must visit a doctor for more than first aid.

2) Lost-time workday cases. Cases when workers, due to an injury/illness sustained at work, are not able to perform work fully or partly; this is a subset of total OSHA recordable cases.

3) Restricted workday cases. Cases when workers

are not able to work to their full capacity due to an injury/illness sustained at work, and are assigned a lower workload; these cases are part of lost-time workday cases.

4) Experience modification rate (EMR). EMR is primarily used to establish workers’ compensation (WC) insurance premium rates. EMR calculations are based on each employer’s compensation claim experience over its last three years as compared to the average of the industry. EMR takes into account the number of

accidents as well as the severity of cases.

The total employee hours from each company; recordable, lost-time and restricted incidence rates to be calculated for each company using the following equation:

• Incidence rate isNumber of cases x

200,000/Total employee hours per

year

Disincentives for unsafe Behavior

• Although disincentive may not be an ideal management approach, there is not always an acceptable alternative where safety is concerned

• Some degree of formalization of the policies and practices is essentially needed

• It adds assurance to that policies are carried out without prejudice

• If a given unsafe behavior is certain to result in some type sanction for a worker, he will quickly alter work practices,

• The reprimand is practiced for one who violates a work practice

• Reprimand should be delivered both orally and in writing.

• Safety violation report is recorded for tracking unsafe behavior.

• It is important to prevent recurrence of the behavior

Incentives for first-line supervisors

• Foremen or first-line supervisors are recognized as playing a key role in the success with work gets done on the project.

• Degree of success is in accomplishing the work with a minimum of injuries

• Study of practices shows from 49 out of 100 firms that safety incentives for foreman may pay dividends

• Incentives for foremen have greater value than do for individuals

Safety performance and foreman Incentives

Incentives for Superintendents• incentives for superintendents generally

cover longer periods • their value tends to be significantly higher• a reward may be a 1. a paid vacation2. a gold watch3. a shot gun4. a cash bonus5. Assumed to be valued

• Incentives need not be changed as frequently as those for workers

• Based on the less frequent loss time injuries, which are particularly costly to a firm.

• Programs should not be restricted to the job superintendents

• It has its goal influencing one individual

Management & worker Perceptions

The differences in opinion between management and workers about various issues regarding safety incentive programs• workers have a more favorable opinion

regarding the effectiveness of safety incentives than do safety directors and other managers who oversee the programs.

• Likewise, workers’ perception about the ability of this program to reduce recordable incidence rates was more positive than that of management.

• Workers’ perception about a program’s ability to change their safety behavior was also more positive than management’s perception

• Employees’ perception about the programs’ ability to increase safety awareness among workers was more positive than management’s.

• Finally, workers’ perception about the ability of safety incentives to improve long-term safety performance was more positive than was management’s perception

Advantages & Disadvantagesof Safety Incentive Programs: Worker Perceptions

• The primary advantage was making the work place safer—indicated in 41.1 percent of total responses. This was followed by receiving the award as a benefit in and of itself (22.1 percent); reduction in accidents (17.9 percent); and increase in safety alertness (16.3 percent)

• Meanwhile, workers identified the most popular disadvantage as the fact that many accidents—and the resulting loss of incentive—are not the fault of workers themselves, but are the result of factors beyond their control

• In addition, 6.7 percent believed safety incentive programs consume too much of a worker’s time and slow production; 4.2 percent believed the programs are a slow way to improve safety; and 4.2 percent believed that these programs increase non reporting of accidents

• Meanwhile, 71.4 percent of surveyed workers said that the use of safety incentive programs posed no disadvantages.

Final comments• The use of effectiveness of incentives to

improve safety performance• Safety performance gives clear testimony

to the importance of the mental aspects of safety

• Incentives do not impart new information to workers that makes them work more safely.

• Do not mandate that specific procedures be followed in the workspace.

• The function is to keep workers think about being safe.

• Along with it comes the message that there is a company commitment to safety.

• Effective when influenced greatly the way workers perform their jobs

• They merely reinforce the safe behavior of workers

• To be successful – has to be acceptable and desirable.