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ksimmonds79  
#1 Posted : 07 June 2019 13:49:10(UTC)
Rank: New forum user
ksimmonds79

Looking for some advice on establishing a safety reward scheme please.

The scheme will be focused on positives behaviours (not 'longest amount of time without an accident' etc. I don't want to drive accident reporting underground).

I would like to know what kinds of reward schemes people have implemented; how did you score it? What sort of prizes were awarded? What were the challenges in terms of implementation and then maintaining the scheme?

Thanks in advance.

A Kurdziel  
#2 Posted : 07 June 2019 14:03:37(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

I always subscribe to the notion the virtue is its own reward!  What other reward schemes does your business operate? Do you have prizes for the best salesman; the tidiest desk; most helpful employee; smiliest receptionist? If so then then there might be a place for some sort of reward scheme for good Health and Safety behaviours. If this scheme is only for Health and Safety I’d feel uncomfortable as it makes H&S out to be something part from what the business normally does. What behaviours to you want to reward?

 Simple compliance eg everybody is wearing their PPE as required- but then the reason to wear PPE is to protect yourself not to get a reward or do you want to reward going that little bit further- the employee that calls out bad behaviours amongst their colleagues?

This could be can of worms!

thanks 1 user thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
webstar on 11/06/2019(UTC)
jmaclaughlin  
#3 Posted : 10 June 2019 11:46:03(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
jmaclaughlin

We give out monthly £50 M&S vouchers, usually for spotting things such as inapproiate materials in a skip, a person who went above and beyond in their course of duty etc.

Have a monthly all hands butty meeting reviewing close call cards/near misses & corporate comms and finish up with the award to say a public well done to the pesron involved, obviously free breakfast rolls and juices for every one else.

Works very well for us as absolutely eveyone is included.

ttxela  
#4 Posted : 10 June 2019 12:29:32(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
ttxela

Originally Posted by: jmaclaughlin Go to Quoted Post

We give out monthly £50 M&S vouchers, usually for spotting things such as inapproiate materials in a skip, a person who went above and beyond in their course of duty etc.

The cynic in me wonders how many people would be tempted to surreptitiously chuck an old paint tin in the cardboard skip then report it to claim their £50......

thanks 1 user thanked ttxela for this useful post.
webstar on 11/06/2019(UTC)
George_Young  
#5 Posted : 10 June 2019 12:34:06(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
George_Young

Originally Posted by: ttxela Go to Quoted Post

The cynic in me wonders how many people would be tempted to surreptitiously chuck an old paint tin in the cardboard skip then report it to claim their £50......

I was thinking the same. 

jmaclaughlin  
#6 Posted : 10 June 2019 15:18:43(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
jmaclaughlin

>The cynic in me wonders how many people would be tempted to surreptitiously chuck an old paint tin in the cardboard skip then report it to claim their £50......

In which case the cynic in you, would of course pick up a close call card.  :-)

A Kurdziel  
#7 Posted : 10 June 2019 15:31:06(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

Originally Posted by: jmaclaughlin Go to Quoted Post

>The cynic in me wonders how many people would be tempted to surreptitiously chuck an old paint tin in the cardboard skip then report it to claim their £50......

In which case the cynic in you, would of course pick up a close call card.  :-)

Wow you must have some effective system for continuously monitoring your staff if it can spot someone putting a paint tin in a skip. Is it based on cameras, something that they wear or something directly attached to the cerebellum which can detect impure thoughts:” Put tin in skip and collect £50 voucher “. If so, can you give details of where you got it from so that I can use to monitor some of my staff?

jmaclaughlin  
#8 Posted : 10 June 2019 15:46:35(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
jmaclaughlin

Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel Go to Quoted Post
Originally Posted by: jmaclaughlin Go to Quoted Post

>The cynic in me wonders how many people would be tempted to surreptitiously chuck an old paint tin in the cardboard skip then report it to claim their £50......

In which case the cynic in you, would of course pick up a close call card.  :-)

Wow you must have some effective system for continuously monitoring your staff if it can spot someone putting a paint tin in a skip. Is it based on cameras, something that they wear or something directly attached to the cerebellum which can detect impure thoughts:” Put tin in skip and collect £50 voucher “. If so, can you give details of where you got it from so that I can use to monitor some of my staff?

Working in the Railway sector, so yes, cameras 24/7, usually used for fault investigations, trespass etc.
A Kurdziel  
#9 Posted : 11 June 2019 08:49:56(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

So the rail sector monitors all staff at all times!  Does this include the people that came up with last year’s new timetables? Personally I’d love to see how they came up with those!

jmaclaughlin  
#10 Posted : 11 June 2019 09:27:34(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
jmaclaughlin

Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel Go to Quoted Post

>So the rail sector monitors all staff at all times!  Does this include the people that came up with last year’s new timetables? Personally I’d love to see how they came up with those!

No they don't monitor staff, they monitor infrastructure and trains.

We manage track and stations, depots & sidings, Timetables are the remit of the privatised independent train companies, I imagine that “they come up with those” based on the amount of profit they can squeeze out of passengers, quite what your little rant has to do with the question though, does admittedly escape me.

A Kurdziel  
#11 Posted : 11 June 2019 10:14:06(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

It was a joke, actually

The original question was about a scheme that promises financial incentives to staff for ‘positives behaviours’. I commented that it is difficult to establish what these behaviours are and that they should be beyond the simple compliance with local Health and Safety rules (eg people should not be rewarded for simply reporting accidents). You mentioned your scheme which rewards people for things like ‘We give out monthly £50 M&S vouchers, usually for spotting things such as inappropriate materials in a skip…’ and the more cynical members of the forum suggested that people might decide to put something into  a skip just to claim the reward. Your response, implied that if they tried that they would be caught out (although if it was so easy to catch someone putting a tin of paint in a skip, why would you need someone to report it). The implication is that you have some monitoring system that keeps track of all worker activity. If such a system existed that we could essentially all give up as the great issue with Health and Safety is not rules or risk assessment or safe systems of work but that it relies on people to actually doing the right thing without cutting corners and putting themselves and others at risk.       You achieve this by having the right culture and esseretally one that is self-policing, what people like Tim Marsh call mindful safety supported by transformational leadership and employee engagement.  This is not easy and I am not convinced that giving rewards to some people for some positive Health and Safety behaviours is the way forward.

thanks 1 user thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
jmaclaughlin on 11/06/2019(UTC)
MrBrightside  
#12 Posted : 11 June 2019 10:40:18(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
MrBrightside

It comes down to positive reinforcement and rewards can be a great way of doing that. Yes someone just doing their job and following the rules should be enough, but people like recognition for doing something that they should be doing anyway, or with today’s generation for pretty much doing anything.

The problem with rewards will be if someone can cheat the system and are they are not available to everyone. I often only see rewards given to Yard staff and never Office Staff, which isolates a group of people who will then wonder why they should bother reporting things, even though they should do regardless.

I’m typically old school British and don’t seek praise and in fact it makes me uncomfortable when anyone gives me praise for just doing my job. For many people, praise and a reward goes a long way. Normally food, food always works well as a reward.

Rewards can and do work as part of positive reinforcement, just look at animal trainers or anyone who has taught their dog tricks the animal will follow the rules if it knows it will get a reward at the end. Are we really any different?

I have a reward scheme for the best safety idea that pans out, for pro-activeness and leading by example. Staff are nominated by their Managers or peers and goes towards the Safety Committee to decide upon the winner. They then get put forward to the company’s Annual Awards Day. People seem to like it

thanks 3 users thanked MrBrightside for this useful post.
CptBeaky on 11/06/2019(UTC), jmaclaughlin on 11/06/2019(UTC), A Kurdziel on 11/06/2019(UTC)
jmaclaughlin  
#13 Posted : 11 June 2019 10:52:49(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
jmaclaughlin

We need every  H&S incentive we can think of, given that last year we were grappling with 6,661 injuries, of which 164 were major & two workforce fatalities, in addition to 300 odd suicides.

For us complacency is a major issue, especially for heavily experienced workers who were operating on auto pilot ignoring their surroundings which usually means working adjacent to moving trains, so anything that engages the workforce in H&S/Safety briefs  is a major benefit to us and we have had some very good close call cards which have led to shared learning/change in established work procedures etc.

 A lot of our workforce are very competitive so are actively looking out for things they can report, so the reward/recognition scheme works very well for us, obviously in different scenarios such as a office this might not work so well.

Last years stats…. :-(

 

https://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/39103/rail-safety-statistics-2017-18.pdf

 

grim72  
#14 Posted : 11 June 2019 14:08:26(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
grim72

Interesting stats - I saw this post  earlier today which struck a chord with the subject of this post - I couldnt find the video online so hopefully the link to the LinkedIn post works: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6544195617625817088 

jmaclaughlin  
#15 Posted : 11 June 2019 14:55:37(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
jmaclaughlin

Suspect this may be a training video?, the braking/stopping distance of a train is between 300m and 2km depending on speed/size, usually by the time the driver sees someone on the line it's too late to do anything other than sound the klaxon and hit the emergency brakes, but by then it's usually way too late.

Also the only entinty that can contact a train driver directly in the UK is a signaller not a policeman, imagine its not a lot different in the USA.

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