Interested in having timely and informative safety-related information sent directly to your e-mail box? LSS publishes our no-charge Saf-T-News every other week. To begin receiving your copy, click here.

Safety Incentive Programs

A safety incentive program helps reduce the net losses an organization experiences due to accidents. Reducing accidents and lost time injuries through a rewards, or incentive program is the typical goal. For an effective safety incentive program one must define objectives, set goals, plan and assign responsibility and accountability, and finally implement and manage the program goals.

Define Objectives

1. Focus attention where incidents are occurring. 
2. Gather the appropriate personnel and analyze your company’s incident/injury rates and subsequent lost-work times.

This will help identify the areas which need to be focused on and give the background necessary to set reasonable goals.

Involve everyone, especially management. Management’s involvement and support is vital to set the tone for employees. It is a morale boost to have everyone at the same level. Encourage employees to be involved by submitting ideas or reward any individual who points out safety hazards. For example, if an extension cord is frayed or worn and one employee turns it in to the safety director, reward that individual for keeping an eye out for safety. Possibly have an “Eagle Eye for Safety” certificate or offer another form of reward.

Choose a Format

Select the type of activities for the safety incentive program—meetings, contest, posters, awards and promotional materials. Get to know the needs of the supervisors and the employees, then select activities that will yield results. One way to get information from workers is to take an inventory or a survey of opinions. A safety suggestion box is another tool used to solicit ideas.

There are many different ideas for safety incentive programs. The non-injury rate contest focuses on the safe worker and safe work practices. All employee names are included in the competition. During the contest period, each worker that is found performing an unsafe act or not wearing required protective equipment has his/her name removed. To maintain credibility, those experiencing recordable injuries would also be eliminated from the drawing.

Another type of contest is the slogan or poster contest. The safety slogan contest can be for the best safety slogan submitted by an employee or have the employee repeat the slogan of the week. Employee-made safety posters can also be a good way to display safety slogans. Have the employees and even their families participate in the planning and judging stages. Frequently, employee poster ideas are so good that companies submit the winning contest entries to the National Safety Council for possible conversion into printed safety posters.

Keep in mind that awards for contests and programs should be meaningful. An award serves several purposes: an inducement, a good will builder, a continuing reminder or as a publicity tool. To gain interest, one example was a company that was able to get a local automobile agency to loan them a new car. An injury-free employee whose name was drawn from a hat drove the car for a week. The employee had a special “Reserved for John Doe” parking space in the company lot. The only cost to the employer was a few dollars to cover special insurance. Even a special parking space awarded on a rotating basis can be effective.

Another way to gain interest is to let the employees participate in selecting the awards, planning the presentation of the awards and helping with publicity of the safety incentive program. Frequently, employees will suggest a humorous or novel award or publicity approach that may attract more interest than an award planned by management. Payment of bonuses as awards for good safety records evokes considerable difference of opinion. Some management and safety people feel that this approach is unwarranted as all employees are paid to work safely. Others believe it can enhance an already successful program.

Safety and health directors initially coordinate the program by supplying ideas and inspiration, while inducting the support of management, supervision and employees. Safety and health directors help educate supervisors to be more aware of working conditions and see that they are kept as safe as possible, insisting that their workers follow the safest procedures. The National Safety Council has many publications to assist safety directors with safety program material.

Maintaining Interest

The supervisor is key to creating and maintaining interest in a safety awareness program. A supervisor is responsible for translating management’s policies into action and for promoting safety activities directly among the employees. It is the responsibility of management— via the safety director—to ensure that supervisors receive adequate safety training. Essentially, supervisors are directly accountable for the safety of their employee’s. The supervisor’s attitude toward safety is a significant factor in the success not only of specific promotional activities, but of the entire safety program as well. Here, attitude is everything and subordinate employees will reflect the supervisor’s views. 

Safety Committees

Safety committees play a key role in the safety program as they normally consist of elected or voluntary employees from various departments. The main function of a safety committee is to create and maintain interest in safety and health, thereby helping to reduce accidents. Safety committee membership should be rotated periodically. Rotation allows for new viewpoints while it increases the number of employees to look at operations through the eyes of safety.

Commonly Asked Questions

More Information

National Safety Council 
1121 Spring Lake Drive 
Itasca, IL 60143-3201 
(800) 621-7615 
http://www.nsc.org/

The Bureau of National Affairs 
9435 Key West Ave. 
Rockville, MD 20850 
(800) 372-1033 
http://www.bna.com

FREE Technical Support
When you have a question, you can rely on our team of technical experts. They'll answer your questions about product specifications, chemical compatibility, regulatory issues, and general worker safety and health.
Call our Safety TECHline™ Technical Support toll-free: 800-356-2501 (6 a.m. to 9 p.m. CT, Monday - Friday). Or e-mail our Technical Support Staff at techsvc@labsafety.com anytime!

FREE Catalog
For products to meet all your workplace safety and industrial needs, turn to Lab Safety Supply. In it you'll find thousands of safety and industrial products, plus a complete service package and our 100% guarantee to stand behind them.
Click here to select a catalog and fill out a request form on-line, or call today to reserve your free copy: 800-356-0783 (6 a.m. to 9 p.m. CT, Monday - Friday).

Please Note: The information contained in this publication is intended for general information purposes only. This publication is not a substitute for review of the applicable government regulations and standards, and should not be construed as legal advice or opinion. Readers with specific questions should refer to the cited regulation or consult with an attorney.