Recently OSHA has been making waves in the “incentive program” arena and in most cases, rightfully so! But incentive programs DO WORK when they are IMPLEMENTED and MEASURED PROPERLY! The big concern with incentives is that the employer puts too much emphasis on the end results and NOT ON the SAFETY PROCESS that produces the end results. So this article I will offer a way that we can use PEER PRESSURE in a POSITIVE way, rather than the old traditional way where accidents/injuries may get hidden. Last year I wrote about “safety activities” that should make up a safety incentive program; and let me state it again… NO INCENTIVE PROGRAM should be tied entirely to accident rates or number of injuries! Rather we MUST MEASURE the safety process and let the results fall where they may! Here is a little trick that will have your plant’s incentive program hopping…
Make ALL workers actually participate in the safety process in order to earn incentive rewards, as well as be part of an incentive program team. Each team will be part of a Department and all the Departments will make up the facility. The hierarchy will look like this:
- Individual
- Team/Shift
- Department
- Facility
The system works like this:
EACH INDIVIDUAL will have monthly activities that he/she MUST complete in order to obtain the first 25% of their incentive(s).
The TEAM (normally a shift) will have MONTHLY activities that they MUST complete as a team (these are ON TOP OF their individual activities) in order to obtain the next 25% of their incentive(s). (Total = 50%)
The DEPARTMENT (normally all the shift teams) will have MONTHLY activities that they MUST complete in order to obtain the next 25% of their incentive(s). (Total = 75%)
The FACILITY (all departments) will be measured to ensure that 100% of the activities were completed.
Now think about this… A single worker does NOT participate in the safety process for some reason. This single worker will not be eligible for his/her 25%. BUT more so he/she will also KNOCKOUT his/her entire TEAM, their DEPARTMENT, and the entire FACILITY from receiving their full incentives! Talk about putting some peer pressure on these folks… you will be amazed at the impact co-workers will have on this single individual. Rather than pressuring workers to hide accidents so they can collect incentives, we are now pressuring workers to participate in the safety process! This single worker has to look those he/she is screwing out of their incentive on a daily basis and trust me the pressure can become immense. If his TEAM (i.e. shift) can not motivate him/her to get busy, the other shifts within the department will get involved and if that is not enough we have the entire facility hunting this person down! I have seen workers who have never left their department/process in 15 years go into a neighboring unit looking for the individual that is costing them 25% of their incentive program!
Now some will call this unfair! I have even been told by an HR manager that my system was creating a “hostile work environment”. We have actually seen some workers quit their job over the peer pressure. But as a safety professional I find this method HIGHLY SUCCESSFULLY and can assure you OSHA will find this type of incentive program acceptable. The trick is to have the majority on the safety band wagon and from that point on the majority will DRIVE participation in the safety process! We (the safety professional) just need to make sure the safety process is Designed, Measured, Analyzed, Improved, and Controlled (DMAIC) so that the facility will achieve its safety goals. You will be pleasantly surprised how effective “peer pressure” can be in furthering the facility’s safety performance! We just need to show them the path forward, collect the data, present the data in a TIMELY MANNER, and let the chips fall where they may.
My next article will be my “score card” and how simple feedback will “call out” those who are not meeting their goals and allow the peer pressure to begin.