Category: Work Safety Policy

Creating Safety Incentives

Incentivizing safety is a controversial topic for management professionals. While the results of incentive programs are generally effective, it is important to create safety incentives that provide the proper focus.  The method, motivational factors, and objectives must be properly structured to avoid undermining the desired effect. In fact, businesses that create safety incentives which discourage employees from reporting injuries are at risk of OSHA violations.  Fear not, safety professionals, by following a few guidelines you can create incentives that build safety culture across the organization.

Safety Incentive Guidelines

  • Make sure you have a safety program in place before creating incentives. Use incentives to enhance the organizational buy-in of a safety program.
  • Plan incentives around the objectives you set for the program.  Reiterate focus and goals at every opportunity.  Reward and promote performance.
  • Avoid incentives that may lead employees to fear the consequences of reporting incidents.  Remember that incentives are to promote safety, not just meet goals.
  • Capitalize on data management technology trends to track and reward long term safety program metrics as well as short term or more focused objectives.

Safety Incentive Program Ideas

  • Safety Slogans: Many incentive programs center around the creation of slogans submitted by members of the organization.  The advantage of slogan incentives lies in culture building and organizational involvement.
  • Safety Quiz: These programs help to ensure employees understand shifting safety initiatives and can also test employee response to real world applications.
  • Housekeeping: The cleanliness and organization of work areas often has a direct effect on safety and can be easily incentivized.

Safety incentives can be a means of establishing a sustainable safety culture while reducing the burden on employees.  Programs such as number of days without injury or lost time can be effective, but should be structured carefully to ensure employees report injuries.  The most effective programs are part of a larger injury risk management safety program, providing support in a way that employees want to participate in.

Making the Case for Work Injury Prevention [INFOGRAPHIC]

The costs of workers’ compensation and other work injury expenses are significant and difficult to predict.  To manage this risk, businesses should build safety culture by implementing  work injury prevention programs and providing incentives to employees that promote safety across the organization.  For an overview on how to make the case for work safety policy, review our Work Injury Prevention Infographic.

Celebrate Independence with Freedom from Work Injuries

The Fourth of July celebrates an important day for Americans and proponents of liberty across the globe. With the signing of the Declaration of Independence our founding fathers paved the road for new ideas ranging from civil rights to individual freedom and equal opportunity. The beauty of the American system is in its providence of choice. Each and every American citizen has the opportunity to capitalize on the liberties promised by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. As Americans we know that we must work for the security of our family.  Opportunity is provided, success is earned. Each individual is blessed with the same system of laws, liberties, and protections. Those who work hard will excel. 

The basic principles of American liberty branch off and extend throughout society. At times it can be perplexing to consider how little we take advantage of the system that is set up to enable us to succeed. One such area is workplace safety. Federal protections for employee safety have been a part of American society since the late 19th century, and OSHA legislation was first enacted over 40 years ago. The laws help to protect not only the individual worker, but also to shield businesses from the risk associated with workers’ compensation claims, lost employee time, and production delays. Yet, OSHA citations are commonplace throughout industry.

Declare Your Independence in 2013

In 2013, we challenge you to Declare Independence from Work Injuries. As a society blessed with personal freedoms, it is inherent that we encourage each other to achieve greatness. The opportunity to achieve an injury free workplace is provided as a safety incentive to all businesses, and the benefit, as is so often the case, cannot be expressed merely in dollars and cents. A safe employee is a happy employee, and happy employees work hard, recruit their friends, and provide great service to your customers.  Take the time to consider the graciousness of a government that provides support for workplace safety, and factor how you can improve safety at your business to earn maximum benefit. Protect yourself from risk and remember the long term benefit of a safe workplace. After all, it’s the American way.

Creating Safety Culture as a Brand

Safety culture compared to safety policy is similar to the difference between creating a brand and pitching a service.  Putting in place a safety and health program can and will be effective, but motivational factors can seem like a burden to managers and employees.

Creating safety culture will align executive initiatives with employee investment and organizational commitment to create value across operational activities.  As a result, effective safety culture not only reduces hazards, injuries, and related costs, it can also provide reputation advantages that improve employee recruiting, generate sales opportunities, and build morale-based quality and efficiency.

 Core Elements of Safety Culture

Culture is a small word with a large connotation.  Just how to implement culture is a concept that is a challenge to grasp when managing business objectives.  The first step in implementing safety culture is to understand and build upon cultural principles.

Commit to Safety as a Value

Management staff as a rule is subject to shifting priorities and objectives.  To build culture, safety should be considered as a value throughout the decision making process: considering new initiatives, managing day to day activities, reviewing performance, and everywhere in between.  As employees hear safety consistently discussed as a value, they will understand it is not a shifting objective and more actively support initiatives.

Employee Involvement in Decision Making

Culture is the driving force for decision making in business, from leadership to management, operational employees, sales and support staff.  Well known cultural values include quality, service, and efficiency.  As values effect each member of an organization on a continual basis, each employee should be involved in planning cultural systems that affect them.  By providing employees with objectives and focus areas, management will understand key factors and produce safety systems that employees support.

Cross-Departmental Investment

Values such as quality, service, and efficiency are often driven by incentives across the organization, from  executives to managers and staff.  Safety as a value can be rewarded in the same way.  Safety culture should encourage communication across departments, reward performance at all levels, and include cross departmental activities.

To Support Culture, Create Systems

Once you begin to embrace safety as a culture, you will soon identify the need to create systems for consistency, management, and performance review.  Effective systems will build trust and focus on correcting unsafe practices, generally improving the environment for safety discussions.  Systems will also provide management with a process for hazard identification, injury prevention training, incident reporting, and continuing improvement.

The importance of safety to businesses of all sizes is proven to reduce work injuries and related costs, but implementing safety initiatives at optimal benefit is not always easy.  Integrating safety as a cultural value will build motivation across the organization and encourage cooperative discussion.  For more on safety culture, visit OSHA.gov.

Work Injury Prevention Programs

Injury prevention programs have led to a significant reduction in workplace injuries while contributing to improved productivity, reduced turnover, improved OSHA compliance, reduced worker’s compensation claims and premium rates, and higher employee satisfaction.  The costs of a worker injury can be devastating to individuals families and affect businesses on multiple fronts.  In 2009, worker’s compensation benefits paid totaled $58 billion, and indirect costs have been estimated at 1.1 to 4.5 times the direct cost.

Indirect Costs of Worker Injury

  • Wages paid to absent, injured workers
  • Time lost due to work stoppage following injury
  • Administrative time processing injury-related tasks
  • Employee training and replacement following an injury
  • Productivity loss due to new employee training
  • Replacement cost for damaged material and equipment

Source: OSHA Injury and Illness Prevention Programs

Injury Prevention Programs: Effective and Scalable

As of 2012, 34 states, and countries around the world, have instituted required or incentivized injury prevention programs.  The results of state programs are remarkable; work injury rates have been reduced by as much as 60 percent.  Participating businesses have reported additional benefits and some have even encountered more sales opportunities due to their commitment to safety.

 Despite the evidence, many businesses are slow to adopt injury prevention programs.  The perception that implementation will be costly and burdensome, particularly for small businesses, can be difficult to overcome.  The reality has been quite the opposite.  Injury prevention programs are scalable when business owners focus on basic tenets: leadership, participation, hazard identification and prevention, training, and continuing improvement.  The effect on the bottom line is also a positive, due not only to reduced workers compensation premiums and payouts, but also indirect morale, productivity, company image, and process improvements.

Mandatory Policy or Incentivized Benefit?

In a 2012 OSHA white paper, the effect of state programs was reviewed and the results are of interest to businesses considering an injury prevention program.  Incentivized programs in Colorado, Massachusetts and North Dakota resulted in noticeably higher effectiveness compared to mandatory programs in other states.  By providing a worker’s compensation premium reduction incentive,  states reduced work injury by at least 20%, compared to mandatory programs with  10-20% reductions.

In addition to the basic principals of injury prevention and company-wide safety commitment, these results may be a factor to consider for businesses seeking to maximize the effect of injury prevention programs.  Employees who believe their management team cares about safety risks are more motivated, aware, and productive, leading to advantages above and beyond cost benefit.  Anyone who has held a management position knows that while blunt force may get the job done, it often comes with costs ranging from employee resentment to undermining the system.

Incentivize to Promote Safety Culture Investment

Incentivized programs may help to avoid unintended indirect costs while still reaping the benefits.  By incentivizing safety initiatives, employees are more likely to perceive safety as a culture as opposed to a business owner’s cost saving agenda.  Further, incentives will help to communicate safety as a company value with a higher purpose than simply complying to policy. Providing incentives for safety could be based on Key Performance Indicators constructed from hazard assessment initiatives and include cost savings sharing.  Employees that are motivated by incentives will perceive safety not as a management priority but as a mutually beneficial investment.

Integrate Ergonomics into Shipyard Health & Safety

The shipyard environment is complex and unique.  Workers often perform awkwardly positioned tasks in unique and varying environments and have a history of forming musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Nonadjustable work stations, enclosed or confined spaces, and diverse repair activities can be job requirements which contribute to health and safety risk.

Ergonomics is the study of efficiency in work environments.  Shipyards that have systematically addressed ergonomics in the work environment have been effective at reducing injury and reducing MSDs.  As a result, many companies have recognized the value of integrating ergonomics into existing safety and health programs.  Companies invested in safety policy should take general steps for initiating ergonomical improvements in the work environment, and always remember that each work environment will have different needs and limitations to consider.

Shipyard Work Environments and MSD Injuries

Shipyard Work EnvironmentA shipyard is composed of three main work environments.  Shop work, with conditions similar to manufacturing and maintenance; and Yard and Vessel work, where tasks include assembly, welding, and repair. Shoulder stress, lower back strains, and symptoms including numbness, pain and swelling can indicate a work environment for which ergonomic improvements can reduce work injuries.

In addition to reduced worker’s comp and lost worker time, ergonomic risk management initiatives can improve morale, reduce absenteeism, and increase production efficiency.

General Steps for Systematic Improvement

Integrating ergonomics into a health and safety plan can follow the following process.

OSHA Shipyards Ergonomics Report
OSHA 2008 PDF Report
  • Providing Management Support
  • Involving Employees
  • Providing Training
  • Identifying Problems
  • Implementing Solutions
  • Addressing Injury Reports
  • Evaluating Progress

These general initiatives can lead to programs and activities across departments to accomplish injury prevention goals.

Equipment Solutions and Guidelines

Ergonomics solutions can be implemented site-wide and evaluated on a task basis for unique work hazards.  Consider three equipment options and related ergonomic guidelines.

  •  Standing Platforms: Provide stability and reduce shoulder and neck fatigue, particularly for overhead work.  Ideally workers should operate with hands between waist and shoulder height.  Lightweight platforms can be utilized site-wide.  
  • Racks and Shelves: For staging, moving, storing materials, tools, equipment.  Wheeled racks simplify maneuverability.  Position between knee and shoulder.
  • Tractor Trailers: Reduce trips between work areas for transport handling and time savings.  Avoid load shifting or tipping by considering stability and balance.

For details about Systematic Improvement Measures, additional Equipment Solutions and Guidelines, and a complete summary of Shipyard Ergonomics and MSDs, view the Ergonomics for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders report online at OSHA.gov.

Ergonomic Assessment at your Shipyard

OSHA recommends setting up a plan for achieving the cost, efficiency, and morale advantages associated with ergonomics process improvement.  In unique and varying shipyard environments, operational or safety teams may need assistance to develop a plan and engineer custom equipment.

Ergonomic improvements have resulted in an 80% accident rate reduction on some shipyards, and are accompanied by operational and morale benefits that can be of great value.  OSHA provides free consultation services, and workplace access specialists also assist with recommendations and equipment design.  Contact Innovative Access Solutions to get started designing custom access equipment to meet your ergonomic safety program equipment needs.