Most commercial contractors have seen some version of the safety incentive program.
Maybe the crew gets lunch after an injury-free month. A quarterly bonus depends partly on incident rates. A sign at the gate counts the number of days since the last lost-time injury. A superintendent’s performance review includes the project’s safety numbers.
None of those practices is automatically prohibited by OSHA. In fact, the agency has specifically said that rate-based safety incentive programs are permissible.
There is an important qualification, though: the program cannot be implemented in a way that discourages workers from reporting injuries or illnesses.
That distinction matters because a safety program can create pressure to keep an injury quiet even when nobody in management ever tells an employee not to report it.
What OSHA’s Guidance Actually Says
The relevant rule is 29 CFR 1904.35, which requires employers to establish a reasonable procedure for employees to report work-related injuries and illnesses. It also prohibits employers from discharging or otherwise discriminating against employees for reporting them.
OSHA clarified how that rule applies to incentive programs in an October 2018 memorandum.
The agency’s position is fairly straightforward: workplace safety incentive programs are not prohibited, including programs based on injury or illness rates. The problem arises when a program is implemented in a way that discourages reporting.
Imagine, for example, that a crew is promised a substantial reward if it finishes a quarter without a reported injury. Someone reporting an injury could now cost every member of that crew the reward. Even if management never tells that employee to stay quiet, the structure itself can create pressure not to report.
OSHA recognizes that possibility. Its 2018 guidance says employers using rate-based incentives can take positive steps to counteract any inadvertent deterrent effect and create a workplace culture that emphasizes safety rather than simply improving the numbers.
Three Precautions OSHA Specifically Identifies
OSHA gives three examples of measures that can help offset the reporting pressure created by rate-based incentives.
The first is an incentive program that rewards employees for identifying unsafe conditions.
The second is employee training that reinforces reporting rights and responsibilities and emphasizes the employer’s non-retaliation policy.
The third is a mechanism for accurately evaluating whether employees actually feel willing to report injuries and illnesses.
That last one is particularly interesting because it asks a different question from the metrics many contractors already monitor. You probably know your total recordable incident rate. You may know your lost-time rate, number of toolbox talks completed, open corrective actions and number of days since the last recordable.
But do you know whether the carpenter, electrician or laborer on the project believes reporting a sore shoulder will cost his crew a quarterly bonus?
That is a different safety metric.
How an Incentive Can Create Pressure Without Anyone Breaking the Rules
The obvious version of underreporting is a supervisor telling someone not to report an injury. That is a serious problem, but it is not the only way reporting can be discouraged.
The more ordinary version is social.
Suppose a crew has gone nearly three months without a recordable injury and everyone is expecting a quarterly reward. A worker strains his shoulder on Tuesday. It hurts, but he thinks he can work through it.
Nobody tells him to keep quiet. His superintendent may not even know anything happened. But reporting the injury now has a consequence beyond himself because his coworkers could lose something, too.
That changes the decision.
OSHA’s guidance specifically recognizes this concern. The agency notes that rate-based programs are permissible as long as they are not implemented in a manner that discourages reporting.
From an operational standpoint, suppressed reporting creates another problem: the company loses information.
A minor strain, near miss or unsafe condition that is reported early gives a safety team something it can investigate. A problem nobody hears about cannot be corrected.
Reward the Inputs You Actually Want More Of
There is a useful distinction between lagging indicators and leading indicators.
Injury counts and incident rates are outcomes. Naturally, you want those numbers to decrease.
Hazard reports, near-miss reports, inspections, training participation and corrective actions are different. They are activities that can give a contractor information before something more serious happens.
That makes them much easier to reward without creating a conflict.
A commercial contractor could recognize employees or crews for useful near-miss reports, hazards identified before work begins, task-specific pre-task plans, equipment inspections completed properly, participation in toolbox talks or corrective actions closed within an established timeframe.
OSHA specifically identifies rewarding employees for reporting near misses or hazards as a permissible form of safety incentive. The direction of the incentive now makes sense: finding a problem helps the crew rather than hurting its chances of receiving recognition.
That can also change how employees perceive reporting. Field personnel generally know which conditions on a project are unsafe. What they need to see is that bringing those conditions forward produces action rather than creating a problem for themselves or their coworkers.
What This Changes on an Actual Project
Start with the formula.
If reporting an injury automatically reduces an employee’s or crew’s eligibility for recognition, examine whether the program is creating a reporting disincentive. You do not necessarily have to abandon every rate-based metric, but the structure should make it clear that accurate reporting is expected rather than punished.
Next, find out whether workers believe that.
This does not require an elaborate consulting project. A contractor could add a few anonymous questions to an existing safety survey: Would you feel comfortable reporting a minor injury? Do you believe reporting an injury could negatively affect you or your crew? Do you believe supervisors want all injuries and near misses reported?
Track the answers over time. Now you have something approaching the third precaution OSHA describes: a mechanism for evaluating employees’ willingness to report.
The non-retaliation message should also appear more than once during orientation. If employees hear about reporting rights on their first day and never again, the written policy may have little influence on what happens six months later when a crew is approaching an incentive threshold. Toolbox talks, superintendent meetings and periodic safety communications give contractors opportunities to reinforce it.
Finally, decide what behavior deserves recognition.
Recognition Doesn’t Have to Mean a Bonus
This is where contractors have more options than they sometimes realize. Recognition does not have to mean a cash bonus tied to a number on a safety dashboard.
OSHA’s safety and health recognition guidance includes a range of recognition methods, from physical awards to public acknowledgement. Depending on the accomplishment and whether the company is recognizing an individual, crew or organization, options can include:
- Martin Crystal Awards for significant individual or team achievements that call for permanent, personalized recognition.
- National Safety Council awards, including certificates, plaques and other forms of workplace safety recognition.
- Certificates or written commendations presented during a company or project safety meeting.
- Company-wide recognition through an internal newsletter, website, bulletin board or employee communication.
- A crew lunch or similar team recognition after employees reach a participation goal, such as completing safety training or contributing useful hazard reports.
The form of recognition matters less than what employees have to do to earn it.
If an employee finds a fall hazard before work begins, reports it and helps get it corrected, recognizing that employee tells everyone else on the project that speaking up has value. If a crew receives a reward solely because nobody reported an injury for three months, the message can be very different.
There is also no reason every contribution needs the same level of recognition. A useful near-miss report might warrant acknowledgement during a safety meeting, while an employee who identifies a serious hazard or makes an exceptional contribution to the company’s safety program might warrant something more permanent.
The National Safety Council takes a similar approach with its own recognition programs. Its Hazard Recognition Award, for example, recognizes people who contribute to identifying and reporting hazards, conducting safety assessments and improving hazard-recognition systems.
The important decision therefore comes before selecting the reward: define exactly what behavior earns it.
Recognition should reinforce the safety system, not become the safety system.
The Business Case Goes Beyond OSHA Compliance
There is a temptation to look at all of this strictly through the lens of compliance: Can we keep our current incentive program without getting cited?
That is not the most useful question.
Accurate reporting is valuable even if OSHA never visits the project. Near misses, minor injuries and hazard reports are information about where the operation is failing while there may still be time to fix it.
A contractor that reports ten hazards and corrects all ten has not necessarily performed worse than a contractor that reports none. The second company may simply know less about what is happening in the field.
That is the weakness of building a safety culture around the absence of reports. A low number can represent excellent performance, but it can also represent silence. Looking at the number alone does not tell you which one you have.
Rate-based incentive programs remain permissible under OSHA’s guidance as long as they are not implemented in a manner that discourages reporting. Contractors therefore do not have to choose between recognizing good safety performance and getting accurate information from the field.
A better-designed program can do both.
Keep the scoreboard if it motivates people. Keep the lunches, bonuses and awards if employees value them. Just make sure the easiest way to earn recognition is by participating in the safety system rather than keeping information out of it.
The best safety program is not necessarily the one with the fewest reports. It is the one that finds problems early enough to do something about them.
