OSHA Turning Up the Heat on Safety Incentives

OSHA has just put the word out that they will be scrutinizing safety incentives. Does this mean to stop any incentive program? NO, but it is a good time to review present incentive plans or one being considered in order to be sure it does not unintentionally reward non-reporting.

If there is a plan that rewards for low or no reported injuries, those injured will be likely to avoid the standard golden rule of “report any injuries to your supervisor immediately.” The employee who reports an injury and keeps the team from making the grade for an incentive of any type will likely take some real or perceived grief from his co-workers who were not injured. [WCx]

Below are just a few types of incentive programs that can have this effect.

1.The team or department who has the least reported injuries gets a bonus.

2.Employees who have no reported injuries over a set period of time get a bonus.

3.Department heads or supervisors receive a bonus or promotion consideration for lowest number of recordable injuries.

4.Individual employees receive “points” or credits that can be used for time off, material goods, or cash for a time period of no injuries.

Bottom line, these are easy to spot due to the reward for non-reporting. Of course, it is easy to see how these could keep an employee from reporting an injury. This can lead to even greater costs down the road when the injury worsens and the worker can no longer ignore the symptoms.

So what type of incentive program works and will pass the muster with OSHA? Incentives that directly reward the worker for safe actions have many benefits. I have been a long time proponent of this type of incentive.

Incentive Programs

Here are some examples of incentive programs that I have personally witnessed that produce desired outcomes. They are popular with employees, provide some healthy competition for safe and productive work, and have no negatives that OSHA can pick on. The individual type of work, pay level, and other factors will determine which is best for your firm.

o Give front line supervisors some petty cash. When they observe an employee doing things safely or efficiently they can reward directly with cash. This presents an opportunity for rewarding desired good behaviors.

o Choose to print some reward certificates that can be used instead of cash. This way the worker can save up points or “safety bucks” for material goods or other rewards. Remember it is the attachment to reportable injuries that is the problem. As long as desired behaviors are being rewarded and not reportable injuries, you the employer on solid ground.

o I have found that the best way to choose what reward to give for safe actions is to ask the employees. It will be surprising to see the strongest motivators.

o Balance incentive with discipline. If you are using a point system, ensure workers can have points subtracted for things like minor PPE violations. I do warn here this can be tricky, so only use this system for minor issues. More serious violations must remain in the normal company discipline program and be documented as such.

The best source for finding the right reward is with the employees. A quick example is when a safety committee carried out this task and was pleased to find the number one incentive employees desired was a parking spot. This particular firm had the ‘employee parking’ far from the front door and management had several spots near the front. So a weekly contest began for the safest employee. The employee got to park right next to the CEO for that next week. This was nearly 15 years ago, and to this day it is one of the most effective incentives I have encountered. The company was prepared and had authorized several thousand dollars for the incentive program. The moral here is money is not the only motivator; status and recognition are strong motivators as well.

I include a link here to the OSHA Memorandum on incentive programs. http://www.osha.gov/as/opa/whistleblowermemo.html OSHA also goes on to warn about taking action against any worker who is disciplined or let go for being injured on the job. Review the information on whistleblowers; it is clear that this is a major part of this recent action. In the case of whistleblowers this is a whole new subject that will be covered in future issues.

Always maintain a consistent discipline program. I find most companies have a need to upgrade the progressive discipline program and properly document unsafe or unacceptable behavior. Finding the need for a consistent and well documented progressive discipline program is the number one most common problem I find. The root causes for this are many and vary from supervisors who want to be ‘the nice guy,” to lack of management commitment and/or incomplete supervisor training.[WCx]

OSHA will be focusing on this and the edict has come down from above. OSHA is increasing the “heat”. Lack of resources has them looking more to whistleblowers and other credible reports of deficiencies. I see no relief coming. Now is the time to review your entire program. OSHA compliance officers I speak with assure me the pressure is on them to be more aggressive in all areas of enforcement. There has never been a time in my career that I have seen a greater need for tightening up all aspects of your company policies and procedures.

Brian Hill is owner of OshaSure in Birmingham Alabama, and has over 20 years as a workplace safety and risk consultant. Brian was previously a pilot for a major US airline and member of the company’s interdepartmental safety committee. He found his new career in safety after the closing of the airline in 1991. Brian has found the same passion he had for flying in assisting companies with safety, heath and risk issues.

For more information click on www.oshasure.com You can contact Brian at 205-296-0601 or at oshasurebh@aol.com

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Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.