Advice on Marrying Safety Training with Safety Incentives

When your train someone how to be safe and then apply the principles of human behavior modification to actually performing their job in a safe manner, you will reinforce the training in such a way that it will become a habit.  When you continually and consistently acknowledge that safe performance with positive reinforcement you will be building a strong and positive safety culture that will be embedded in your companies.

In too many organizations safety training is viewed as a separate standalone function.  But in reality, safety is nothing more than the beginning of the behavior change model.  The term “safety incentive” has become a pariah in some safety circles because of the negative focus that OSHA has put on it.  Unfortunately the incentive industry as well as safety professionals who lacked the understanding of how to properly implement a successful safety incentive program have given much credence to OSHAs concerns.  But it’s time to learn from the mistakes of the past and see safety incentives as a part of your safety culture…the part that will positively affect your entire safety program. 

The only way to use a safety incentive appropriately is when you actually reward people for doing things safely.  You have to have a system to ensure that any incentive is based on an actual change or sustaining safe work habits…nothing less. 

This paper on OSHA and Safety will clarify all the confusion surrounding safety incentives.  If you want to  create a behavioral safety program that will provide results at minimal cost, be completely OSHA compliant and can provide dramatic results you may want to review the ideas in this white paper. 

Marry the right safety incentive with your safety training and achieve your goals by changing one behavior at a time.  

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