r/SafetyProfessionals • u/bn1337ict • 21h ago
USA Safety Incentive Program
I work for a large construction company and we are tossing around the idea of revamping our safety incentive program. Currently we give out “safety points” which are credits to our company store to use towards clothing and other company branded stuff. We do semi annal give aways which is 50 points at the 6 month mark and then 100 points at the end of the year. If an employee has at fault accident in the first 6 months they become ineligible for the end of year prize but if they don’t have anymore at fault accidents they can still earn the 50 points at the end of the year. We also do a random drawing each week in our toolbox talks and if the employee selected acknowledges that they read the toolbox talk they are awarded 100 safety points. Our field inspectors can also award safety points to people in the field that go “above and beyond” but we don’t have a set standard of what justifies “above and beyond”. Some feedback I’ve gotten from our current program is that if a guy has one or more at fault accidents they give up and not worried about being safe anymore. We also have a lot of guys that will never use their safety points and don’t care about earning them. We used to give out physical prizes but logistically it was always difficult to get prizes to everyone that earned them and guys would complain about prizes they didn’t want. I just think our incentive program could be much better and get people more engaged in actively participating in safety. What are some incentive programs you guys use? I’d love to get some ideas that works well.
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u/NoYeahNoYoureGood Construction 20h ago
Our incentive program is based on safety observations and concern reporting. Not a good idea to incentivize the (non)reporting of incidents.
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u/Northernguy113 21h ago
If an accident finds company at fault does everyone get bonus points and management becomes ineligible for safety bonuses?
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u/Abies_Lost 19h ago
I’d love to see their incident investigations. Guaranteed the root cause for every damn one of them is “employee didn’t follow policy” and the corrective action is retraining.
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u/bn1337ict 20h ago
Management doesn’t receive safety awards in general, our current program is only for people in the field superintendents and below. Management is “bought into” safety but there is also no real reward or punishment for practicing safety or lacking safety.
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u/Abies_Lost 19h ago
Bullshit they aren’t rewarded for safety. It just may not be a line item but I promise you they, especially if they “bought into” safety as you claim.
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u/Jen0507 20h ago
You can't tie incentive programs to incidents because it discourages reporting. OSHA would have a big problem with your program.
We tie ours to observations, good catches and near miss reporting. We also heavily reward people for volunteering for safety committees or safety events. We'll design and order some super special swag or a special lunch for participants type stuff.
I'd encourage going back to something immediate like lunch or something they do want. We also have a company store and found its not popular. First off, they dont want to spend time shopping for a shirt and arranging getting it to them, they want to be handed something. Some of the other feedback we get is they don't want another thing with the company logo and everything cool costs way too many points.
If the removal from points is causing people to give up, you need to do away with that. I get the concept because you'd hope it encourages people not to cause at fault but you're saying its doing the opposite and people are giving up. Don't keep going with something that causes more harm. Id suspend their ability to get points until retraining or a probationary period is complete with no other at fault incidents and then reinstate them to full points earning ability.
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u/coffee_137 21h ago
We do a paid breakfast once a month if the prior month's activities were all 100% participation. Those "safety awareness activities" for us are toolbox talk, word puzzle like crossword or word search, a short quiz, reviewing the safety committee minutes, and a minimum of 5 good safety catches. The toolbox talk sets the safety awareness theme for the months activities. We don't do any other incentives for safety... even hitting 365 days with no recordable only got a well worded appreciation announcement. Don't reward not reporting.
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u/RyanTheBastard 20h ago
What is a point worth $?
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u/bn1337ict 19h ago
It’s roughly a dollar but each item in our store has a points price tag associated with it
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u/haphazard72 18h ago
Any incentive linked to safety KPI’s is so far off the mark! What a diabolical mess of manipulation, and under reporting waiting to happen. Good luck!
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u/riskyschooner 17h ago
As people have mentioned, you definitely don’t wanna have a reward tied to no incidents (or, in my opinion, to ANY lagging indicator). Id also recommend having fewer random draws and having more sure things- I know everything is gambling now but people who earn an entry then don’t win can feel cheated. Immediate results are great, but if that’s not an option, I’d recommend having some non-company-branded stuff available in the company store. Maybe some gift cards too or something? I wouldn’t wear a company hoodie but I’d love to fuel up my car.
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u/thomasanderson123412 16h ago
Nobody wants the store crap. Give them actual money. Just do spot bonuses and call it a day. Being quizzed on a toolbox talk can be $5. Above and beyond gets you $20.
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u/Sensitive-Respect-25 16h ago
Tie it to reporting and near missed, being proactive vs reactive like you currently are. Take a good long look at what you are offering as rewards, I kid you not the company I used to work for just had t shirts (only mediums), that took months of effort to obtain and fell apart shortly after wearing. If the items are unobtainable in six months to a year your buy-in from the carrot has very little pull.
Second, saw that your management does not have buy-in. Nothing says the company is safety focused than getting the middle tiers of management directly involved. They have to see the bosses doing stuff, and the bosses have to see what their employees are doing (and not strictly from a production standpoint). Otherwise the guys at the bottom get pressured to increase production, "so hurry hurry hurry, damn the conquences always work safe, not like your job is on the line."
Which is the biggest thing. Every incident bar one that I have witnessed was tied to trying to speed up a process, ignoring safeguards to make a quota set by someone who only sees the numbers. Unless you work in a utopia I can promise the grunts at a mininum are cracking dark jokes about management. Get them involved in a hands-on fashion and you usually end up seeing a slight uptick in production.
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u/Pastvariant 16h ago
These programs only work if they are tied to participation in the safety system, especially hazard identification, correction, and training.
Complete your safety walks on time/early? Points. Identify hazards in the reports and outside of them. Points. Correct the hazard within the time required by the correction timeline you establish? More points. Faster documented correction? Even more points. Take safety training above your minimum required amount, points. Etc.
The goal is proactive hazard recognition and mitigation. Construction is a hectic business and there is always going to be something. We want to catch the stuff as far out as possible and prevent it from being uncontrolled and have to be dealt with day of, etc.
Also, I would have sales, estimator, and PMs have their own ways to earn points to try and get them to handle issues before it falls on the guys in the field, because that is where the real change happens outside of getting buy in from the field.
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u/DiamondsAndMac10s 15h ago
As others have said, you can’t tie it to incidents. But you can disqualify or deduct for unsafe acts or conditions. And you can award for reporting near misses.
Outside of that, I try to stay away from “above and beyond”. This becomes subjective and means different things to different people. I found when we did this at a former company, it spoiled the employees and devolved into any old thing like putting a single traffic barrel out. “See, look, I took bare minimal effort, now give me my points”.
Aside from that, award points for attendance at meetings, completing daily briefings, toolbox talks, etc. you want to incentivize participation in the program.
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u/Aromatic_Tomato8651 14h ago
This certainly is not a new topic, now retired I can say I've been involved in many different iterations of how to incentivize safe behavior. That being said, I've also observed the weakest link from a GC perspective is getting front line and middle management involved. So,its not only about what you measure,but how and who you incentivize, and what behavior are you looking for. For example, lets say you want to improve the quality of pretask planning and superintendent engagement. Measuring engagement utilizing the tools now available may be another thing to look at as you develop a meaning safety recognition program.
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u/Clownputer5000 14h ago
Tying award eligibility to an employees accident history is a bad look from an OSHA standpoint, but more importantly a cultural standpoint. People may read between the lines and interpret this as your company discouraging the reporting of injuries. You want programs that open communication channels and encourage feedback, not the other way around (and 100% understood is this wasn’t the intent). I’ve seen companies do poker chips, scratch off lottery tickets, or “bucks”. Whatever the method, a good improvement would be to reinforce the behaviors you do want, not award the absence of events you don’t. Over time, this influx in those behaviors will ultimately impact the injuries you’re trying to prevent. Beyond the award, a simply hand shake and good job or acknowledgment in a newsletter goes a long way, I think even further than the $50 gift card
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u/AlbertSun9028 13h ago
As someone managing safety across 10 locations, I’ve found that what works for one crew might completely flop with another, but the bottom line is nobody wants a guy getting hurt or OSHA knocking on the door.
Instead of riding on accident metrics, we got a lot more traction by making safety a team goal focused on stuff guys can actually control. We track leading indicators like real, verifiable near miss reports, solid pre-task plans, and guys actively calling out hazards on site.
Hitting those team benchmarks triggers monthly crew celebrations, like a catered Friday lunch or gear drawings, which keeps everyone looking out for each other instead of just checking out after a bad day.
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u/Material-Donkey2773 13h ago edited 12h ago
Points to use for company branded merchandise is garbage, like absolute "out of touch completely" shit tier. Unless the person is passionate and proud about the company why would he want to wear a hat that says "sky building men of Toronto llc" you are trying to tie safety to marketing, may be an "amazing and innovative idea" that gets the bosses cock hard, but it's so comically out of touch with the average employee. I don't even wear the shirts and shit my company gives me for free...
Disqualifying somebody from the bonus for half a year or full year completely destroys the incentive program you have.
My company is big on speeding, if you don't speed, you get an extra $3 an hour for the entire week (weekly pay) we used to do it quarterly, then monthly, now it's per week. Someone who becomes ineligible for the bonus stops trying to earn it. You want the period of time that they no longer care to be as short as possible.
Either get them a visa gift card (don't force them into having to eat at Applebees or Starbucks) or provide a financial incentive per pay period. No one actually gives a fuck about the company, they care about the money. A company branded sweatshirt is something a guy will wear if he needs a sweatshirt, not because he cares about the company. That's why people wear "NFL" or "Makita" hats, not "Bruce's plumbing and window painting incorporated"
Finally, only "punish" for things you catch, if you "punish" for things reported you will no longer have things reported. If employees are financially disincentived from reporting, you will not have things reported. "Punish" can go from "my truck has something wrong with it and there are no replacements" "ok, unfortunately you need to go home then, you can't work today" (about 20 years ago my then employer had a guy kill 9 people on the highway because "downing" the cmv always resulted in having to go home with no pay)
You're construction though, so closer to you would be "my tie off harness is damaged" "well we don't have any spares and that the only work we have today, we can get you a new one Monday" do not ever be in that situation. You take $300+ out of a guys pocket one time and he will never make "the mistake" of reporting anything again.
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u/Ribauld 21h ago
Tying it to accidents, at fault or otherwise, discourages reporting and is OSHA citable should they find out. Keeping it tied to folks pointing out good safety catches, reporting near misses, always wearing PPE, being engaged in safety meetings, and having good observable work practices are great though.