Business group supports OSHA’s position on incentive programs
October 25, 2010 by Fred HosierPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Injuries, Latest News & Views, OSHA news, PPE (protective equipment), Recordkeeping, What do you think?, safety incentives
OSHA administrator David Michaels says safety incentive programs based primarily on injury numbers often discourage employees from reporting injuries. Now Michaels has more support for that position.
The Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association (VPPPA) agrees that safety incentive programs must not encourage under-reporting of injuries.
The VPPPA is a nonprofit association of companies that participate in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP). It has almost 2,100 members.
What makes VPPPA’s support for Michaels’ position more remarkable is that the group has been at odds with OSHA recently over how the VPP will be funded.
Michaels wants to use fees paid by participating companies to fund VPP in the future. The VPPPA wants federal funding of the program to continue.
Use a different type of incentive program
VPPPA recommends that if safety incentive programs are used, they should reinforce positive behavior, not reward a lack of injuries.
“Good incentive programs feature positive reinforcement for demonstrating safe work practices and taking active measures in hazard recognition, analysis and prevention,” VPPPA Executive Director R. Davis Layne said.
OSHA is concerned about the type of safety incentive program that rewards a plant with a steak dinner for not having any reportable injuries.
In fact, OSHA has said that if it finds such an incentive program is responsible for injuries not being reported at a company, it could cause a recordkeeping violation to rise from a minor “other-than-serious” infraction to the willful level, which carries a much higher financial penalty.
What’s an example of a positive-reinforcement safety incentive program? Reward employees when they exhibit good safety behaviors. Is a worker using PPE properly? Award points to the worker which can be cashed in for a company shirt or hat. The same system can be used when employees report potential hazards and suggest methods to eliminate them.
Does your company use a positive-reinforcement safety incentive program? You can share your ideas with others in the Comments Box below.
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Tags: David Michaels, safety incentive programs, VPP, VPPPA
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October 25th, 2010 at 11:05 am
Safety Incentive Programs that are “properly structured” can and do change behaviors, long-term. Problem is, most safety incentive programs are structured to deliver very (sometimes as short as a week or a month) short term results. Lotteries (where a worker gets to be in a lottery for being safe) and monthly prizes are useless and encourage workers to not report in the hopes they can “win”. Successful safety incentive programs reward employees that earn, not win, safety points.
Safety managers are often afraid of these because they require budgets to be considered and eyes of senior management. When in fact, these safety incentive programs can be structured to show those senior managers that a safety incentive program is a great investment, one that has a low risk and a great bottom line return. In brief, these programs, when done right, create a win for everyone in the company. VPPPA can work with their members to contribute to the OSHA program using a portion of the Safety ROI to fund that program you are concened about!