Safety Incentives
Focus on processes not outcomes to create a reality-based safety culture.

By Duane Daugherty

One of the most common questions companies ask safety consultants is, “Which safety incentive program do you recommend?”

The answer many give is, “I’ve seen them all, but rarely one that actually worked.”

That’s tough news for many companies who are proud of their safety incentive programs. But sadly, it usually doesn’t take long to spot a fatal flaw in the design of most such programs.

Now, does that mean safety incentive programs don’t work and you should give them up? Not at all. You certainly can create an effective incentive program, but you have to start by understanding why most fail.

Why They Fail
Most safety incentive programs fail because they start with some type of injury number—such as “lost time injuries” or “OSHA-recordable injuries”—and then dangle rewards for time without these injuries.

Think about that. It’s like having a quality system that measures success by the number of defects. Quality guru W. Edwards Deming rightly admonished any incentive plan that focuses on outcomes metrics but ignores the processes that cause them.

The bottom line is that there are only three ways to improve your outcomes numbers: You can improve your process, get lucky or lie.

Most people are unwitting victims of the last two. We all like the path of least resistance, and improving the processes that cause injuries is hard work. But a poorly constructed safety incentive plan actually makes things worse.

They Meant Well…
One manufacturer had a “safety raffle” each December and gave away a new pickup truck. The first year, each worker’s name was put in the drum at the beginning of the year. It was removed if they had a lost-time injury. The poor worker who had an injury in January had zero incentive for the rest of the year.

The company saw the flaw and changed the rules in year two, but things went from bad to worse. Workers got one raffle ticket for each month they were injury-free, so a worker with no injuries had 12 chances to win. At the random drawing in December, guess who won the truck: a worker who had been injured twice and was under investigation for worker’s compensation fraud!

Think about the message this “incentive” program sent. Every morning, a diligent worker who went 10 years without an injury parked next to that new pickup the company gave to a guy who was scamming the system. Using random rewards to encourage non-random behavior—careful, thoughtful, safe behavior—doesn’t work.

Create a Program That Works
Our competitors in Germany and Japan rarely use incentive programs because they understand that you don’t actually “motivate” other people. Motivation comes from within. So just how do you construct a program that works?

Dr. E. Scott Gellar sums it up well in The Psychology of Safety. He said that it is important to focus on the outcomes and reward people for what they do—risk-reducing behaviors or correct, safe behaviors—instead of days without injury.

Here are some ideas:

•    Don’t use lost-time injuries. Do use measures such as your scores during safety audits.

•    Focus on a particular issue each month. Examples include wearing safety glasses, using machine guards or good housekeeping. Have managers give “tickets” to workers who are “caught” doing things right. Conversely, violating a safety rule costs the worker all of his or her tickets that month. Tickets are exchanged each month for items or services. Everyone participates. People focus on their behaviors because consequences are immediate.

•    Use team awards and the power of peer pressure. If the entire department gets rewarded for going a month without anyone having to be reminded to wear their glasses, the team members themselves will scold any worker who shows up without them.

Remember, your goal isn’t to control people. Your goal is to create an environment in which they control their own behavior. Outside control, random awards and negative outcome measures seldom create that kind of environment.

The Best Incentives
Another mistake is thinking that money or high-dollar prizes will do the trick. In reality, the higher the value the more people have incentive to cheat and hide injuries, and the more it creates a disincentive for most workers who don’t win. The best incentives involve some form of recognition, preferably from senior management. Believe it or not, lunch with an executive is more effective than a $500 check. One of the most effective safety prizes was the CEO of an Illinois company who washed the winner’s car in the parking lot over lunch—with all of the workers cheering him on!
If you do give jackets or coffee mugs, be sure you label them as safety awards so they’re a visual reminder of the program.  

Duane Daugherty is senior consultant at Business Behavior Institute. He is an authorized OSHA 500, 501, 503, 510, 511 outreach trainer, and is authorized to train other OSHA trainers. He is the author of several books and numerous articles on safety, and has served as adjunct faculty on safety issues at several universities. He can be reached at (816) 356-6787 or at .