Hi

I am working on ways to get and maintain workers involvement in safety. I was wondering if anyone had any success in this field, what you had found to work well and what didn't work at all.

I am working on using small high personal value rewards- i.e. non-monetary or low monetary value, to get people focused. The idea is to use group conformity to make working safely the group norm- so that members of the group police themselves. The rewards would be stuff like paid time credits- so people can take time off (Green shield stamp principle- low value, loyalty, infrequent reward, Group purchasing power) or other little things that make people feel special.

If anyone has tried this, anything similar or something totally different I would love to hear from you.

Cheers

Mark

Hi Kieran

Thanks for the comments. I was outlining one idea, because I wanted to hear other peoples experiences. But didn't want to ask for ideas without giving anything first.

I have done a bit of research and a similar scheme was run at a local nuclear site. They used safety audits and a raffle- each person received a sticker with a number on when were inducted. If they were audited and found to be working safely they were entered into a raffle. The prize fund was a £1000 each month and they apparently went 9 months no LTI on a big site.

I agree with you that focus groups and well designed surveys would provide valuable data. But don't you think that the problem with focus groups is that you hear the same few voices. The same people who get involved outside of the focus group get involved in a focus group.

The same people remain uninvolved every time we have a safety meeting- there are so many people we don't hear from. I have taken part in few surveys and produced a couple for projects. I find that after a while I don't answer them with much thought. I appreciate the value of quantitative surveys, but perhaps a qualitative survey on attitudes/ wants would reveal more?

I agree that collaborating with the workforce is the way to move things forward. I wanted to use group conformity, because it works so well when people are working unsafely. Why can't this group norm be turned on it's head? We already have a no LTI reward scheme which periodically gives out ipods etc out as prizes.

The stamps aren't really any different to that. But they would be easier to give out, encourage saving, have no value, can be traded for a variety of things- time off to watch football, early finishes, late mornings.

If the reward is also in the groups interest- i.e. if the majority of a group want to watch a match and they know they need to get the safety shield stamps to do get the time off. Then won't they police themselves? In many ways supervision is better coming from within a team rather than from the top down. If the groups goals are used as a reward then the majority will conform.

I work in the oil and gas industry and we have a good safety culture and permit system. Things can always be improved or as you say so well - easily go awry, even with the best of intentions.

Thanks again Kieran for your reply

Mark

Hi Kieran

Thanks for reminding me about repertory grids, I haven't done one of those for a while.

They are quite tricky to create aren't they and don't they use a lot of reverse questioning to verify answers? I don't think that I could create one that would be valid.

I take it that you are saying the only way to get people involved is to talk with them. Have you undertaken such a survey, What did you find out? What did people from your line of work say was most important? Did you find out what you weren't doing but should be?


Thanks again for your reply

Mark