Safety Awards Are the Most Misunderstood Safety Strategy

Having been in the incentive industry for close to 40 years, we’ve designed, implemented, researched and analyzed many different types of incentive programs.  By far the most misunderstood of all of them is the “safety incentive.”

We follow a few safety groups on LinkedIn, and recently there were a couple of discussions on safety incentives and what the safety professionals thought of them. The answers are given based on the contributor’s experience of either being in a “safety incentive” or actually implementing one.  The answers ranged from completely negative feelings to negative feelings with some positive comments to positive feelings with negative comments to largely positive responses.  This topic elicits a tremendous response rate and everyone has an opinion.  Just the topic “safety incentives” seems to set folks off on a tangent.  It is always a lively debate, and the answers reflect precisely the title of this post.

Safety professionals are expert in the world of safety, but on average are not very well versed when it comes to “safety incentives”.  Why?  Well, to start, they don’t often understand the major differences between various award strategies: 

• Incentives programs as motivators of behavior change

• Simple communications programs that contain company identified merchandise that is used for rewards (tee shirts and caps

• Year ending programs that use the “award of day” or cash to reward for lagging indicators

• Other programs that are used to simply thank and recognize folks for performing in a safe manner during a set timeframe 

I suppose there are a lot of reasons why “safety incentives” are viewed with such inconsistency.  In our opinion the reason is the lack of understanding of what a “safety incentive” should be versus all the other award strategies that might be employed in its place.  When you put all the safety award strategies into the one generic name of “safety incentives,” all you do is compound the confusion.  “Safety incentives” are not inherently good or bad or right or wrong, they just are.  What you get out them is directly related to what you understand about them and how to use them.     

When you understand how award strategies work and when and how to use the different types of award systems to enhance a safety culture, you will have performance improvement programs that do work and work well.  The question should not be “what do you think about safety incentives in general” it should be what types of award strategies you have used, if they were successful and why, or if they were not successful and why.

For more information on AwardSafety products or services or other white papers please contact us at awardsafetyinfo@cox.net

Painting Safety Incentives with a Broad Brush

All safety professionals have an opinion on safety incentives.  Many don’t believe in them; some find that they can be very helpful in within the designs of their overall safety culture and others have simply given up on them because of the OSHA recording issues and non-reporting of incidents concerns.

Having been involved in safety award systems for many years, we have seen a definite shift in how they are being used.  At one time almost all safety incentives were based on lagging indicators and some did have incident reporting issues, but far less than perceived.  Most safety professionals wouldn’t allow that.  Unfortunately over the last few years the term “safety incentive” became painted with a broad negative brush and many companies stopped using them.

A while back, there was an interesting quote by Dr. Deb Potter from an article from the Safety Daily Advisor.  She mentioned that the problem with safety incentives is that they don’t work the way they are expected to.  Wrong, they work exactly the way they were designed but they were designed by an incentive industry that was steeped in sales incentives, not in awards to change workers behavior to work safely.

Safety awards have a very important place in any safety culture, but in our opinion, the first thing you need to do is change the name.  They aren’t incentives at all; they are reinforcement recognition for positive behavior performance.  They should be used on a continuous and consistent basis to change bad safety performance.  They are reasons for you to acknowledge and thank your employees on the spot for performing all tasks in a safe manner. 

For more information on AwardSafety products or services or other white papers please contact us at awardsafetyinfo@cox.net

The Psychology of Saying Thank You

Safety reward programs should always be designed to reward outstanding safe behaviors and recognize exemplary safety performance.  And one of the best ways to do that is… Just Say Thanks!

Outstanding performers are probably prevalent throughout your organization, but you might not be aware of all of them.  Not everyone is wired to take special notice of a terrific safety performance; but leaders need to develop an "eye" for those behaviors that can stop injuries and accidents and help contribute to a culture of safety appreciation.. 

Why is Thank You Important?

According to behaviorists, saying 'thank you' is not only good manners, it is also beneficial to the overall well-being of your employees.  It can strengthen their social net worth, produce positive emotional feelings, and help them cope during more stressful times.

Psychologists have studied the effect that "thank you" has on individual performance. 

In a report in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, experimenters found that people appreciated being needed, they perform more effectively when they are encouraged, and "felt more socially valued when they'd been thanked."

And even more noteworthy, research shows that more employees leave their jobs not because of an unfair manager, heavy workload, or stale donuts in the breakroom.  They leave because of a lack of appreciation and praise.

When you give employees positive recognition, you reinforce the actions and behaviors you most want them to repeat.  Those behaviors turn into positive safety habits that lead to reducing workplace accidents. 

Sincerity Counts

We've all experienced that moment when someone says to us," You've made my day!"  When those types of positive affirmations are prevalent within an organization, you'll likely find a stronger work ethic and a sincere commitment to the success of the company among employees.

We often hear that "it's the little things that count."  They do, and saying thanks should be at the top of your to-do list.  

For more information on AwardSafety products or services or other white papers please contact us at awardsafetyinfo@cox.net