Safety awareness and compliance in the workplace can mean many different things, and finding a simple yet worthwhile solution to increasing safety in the workplace may seem insurmountable. If you don’t have the time or budget to begin a safety incentive program right away, your company may want to look at beginning an on-the-spot safety program. We've come up with different safety program ideas based on various working environments to increase results without developing a time intensive, detailed campaign.
Reducing Accidents on Worksites
Many of the construction companies we work with are very focused on jobsite safety. One of the most important metrics for these organizations is reducing recordable accidents and injuries that involve workers’ compensation cases. Since the human resources department tracks individual recordable accidents, it can easily run a report for hours worked and occurrences of accidents. The company can determine how often a safety award should be earned for a set number of consecutive hours worked with no accidents. When workers pick up their paychecks, they have the option of quickly picking out their own safety awards from a safety program catalog kept at the office.
Increasing Safety Results in Manufacturing Environments
Manufacturers are often aware of how much safety issues cost the company, but are at a loss for how to prevent accidents and increase safety compliance. A common problem for many clients with safety programs is tracking safe actions. It can be difficult for leadership to keep a record of ideal behaviors to be awarded at a later time. One way around this issue is to give supervisors printed point cards that can be distributed throughout the month to workers who demonstrate safe behavior and help to prevent accidents and injuries.
When an individual is observed increasing safety in the workplace, the supervisor can hand the worker a point card that can be saved or spent on an award of their choice. The safety point cards are paper and about the size of a business card to easily fit in a pocket. These cards recognize the worker for a job well done with points they can save or spend as they choose. There is nothing for management to track, and all supervisors have to do is weigh the activity with the number and value of the cards they have to distribute.
Increasing Safety Performance in Offices and Warehouses
Office and warehouse environments are often affected by lifting accidents, slips, or falls, which can injure employees and prevent them from working. These insurance claims can be devastating if a key employee is on leave, especially for a small business. Companies with workers in these environments who want to encourage safe behavior can implement safety programs featuring award cards. Office and shipping managers are given the wallet sized award cards, similar to an insurance card. These safety award cards can be handed out for on-the-spot recognition when an employee prevents an accident or assists a co-worker to avoid an accident. When employees demonstrate safe behavior, the manager can immediately recognize the safety performance with the safety award card, which also entitles the person to a gift of his or her choice.
The key with all three of these safety programs is to allow those who work closely with workers and understand the safety precautions and behaviors specific to their environment to give out safety awards as needed. This takes the burden off of a safety coordinator or Human Resources Manager to develop goals and implement a full blown safety incentive program targeted towards specific groups needing to improve safety performance. Though safety incentive programs may be worth implementing down the line, these simple and straightforward safety programs can help increase safety in the workplace on a smaller scale.
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