The Missing Link . . . is Much More than Just Safety
(And it's as prevalent in corporate America as a Sasquatch sighting.)
QUICK fairy tale: A recently promoted case study lauded a large national service company's comprehensive safety incentive program, which awarded safety vouchers that could be redeemed for rewards. The program succeeded in raising safety awareness, promoting safe work practices, and lowering claim counts.
It sounds solid enough. So why refer to this seemingly successful program as a fairy tale? Because while the company and their solution provider are patting themselves on the back for a job well done, their approach may not necessarily end in a "happily ever after" result for the company.
The program simply could be acting as a patch to a specific problem area, but it may be a patch working in isolation (i.e., operating in its own silo). This "silo" approach misses a critical, often-overlooked step: leveraging the link between safety and areas such as attendance, turnover, training, and wellness. Yet HR and safety managers and executives may often miss, or even ignore, this critical link. Why?
- They don't know where to begin, or
- They focus too narrowly (can't see the forest for the trees, so to speak), or
- They are satisfied with "safe" gains produced by silo programs, or
- They are intimidated or overwhelmed by the notion of collecting and analyzing data, or
- All of the above.
To realize the full benefit of their programs, managers and execs must overcome these points and create a broader, long-term solution that aligns with company goals. To achieve this, managers must analyze, address, and measure all employee performance areas more holistically.
Why Mess With Success?
- A large office supplies manufacturer experienced a 44 percent reduction in accidents during their safety program's first year.
- A national packaging manufacturer decreased accidents and lost time and associated costs, hitting its straightforward objectives. The company's safety director said, "We understand that any safety incentive program is a small slice of the pie, but we feel it is a significant slice. Certainly, other management systems must be in place in order to create and maintain a safe working environment."
- A leading manufacturer in the building and construction space went from an incident rating of 3.5 to 0.34 in its plants during the course of three years.
- These examples illustrate that safety incentive and recognition programs certainly can be successful, focused programs in and of themselves. But even with these types of stellar results, companies have room for potential (dramatic) improvement.
Search Beyond Safety for the Links
In recent years, a number of studies have looked beyond and shown connections among activities or behaviors: high turnover linked with a poor safety record; high job satisfaction linked with low absenteeism; low absenteeism linked with low injury rates; wellness programs linked with decreased absenteeism linked with decreased accident rates; etc.
Examples of forward-thinking companies that found these types of linkages and embraced the concept of integrated programs are:
- A regional medical center in New York state implemented a program that, after only one year, produced outstanding results across a number of areas, including:
- Recordable injuries fell 54 percent with more than $300,000 in savings to the bottom line.
- Training programs contributed to elevating safety consciousness significantly, exceeding expectations.
- Constructive peer pressure and targeted goals pushed down worker's compensation abuse to the lowest levels in years, reducing runaway costs.
- Turnover decreased, service quality levels increased, and morale improved.
- The medical center achieved a 4:1 ROI through reduced accident frequency alone.
- A national transportation services company with several thousand employees, most of them drivers, implemented a program that gave them the ability to recognize, reward, measure, and manage their drivers' performance more closely. As a result, the company made dramatic improvements in many areas. For example, in driver retention and safety, the company moved from a laggard in its industry to a leader. Moreover, drivers turned in paperwork more promptly, resulting in more timely billing and quicker collections. Driver availability and timeliness jumped.
What did these companies have in common?
- Senior management provided their commitment to driving down costs through structured, integrated programs--a dedication that permeated the entire organization--while recognizing that employees would play the key role in driving those costs down.
- These companies had an array of internal measurements already in place, from safety statistics to productivity and delivery measures. They analyzed and acted on the data individually down to the line-level employees but did not yet have the ability to correlate and align them across organizational areas.
This article originally appeared in the September 2006 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.