Safety Incentive Program

We used to give a $200 bonus to any employee who got through a whole month without damaging anything. It effectively increased the salary of our good employees, and did nothing at all for the ones who broke everything. Beyond that, we haven't tried an incentive program.
 
Personally if there was a crew member or members that regularly damaged shit they wouldn’t be around very long. IMO regular damage is just plain carelessness and a red flag for something worse.
Now I know accidents happen in this business, it’s just the law of averages. But something gets damaged monthly, yeaaaah no.
I also think the very reason this profession exists is to not damage shit. We get paid solely based on the principal that nothing will get damaged because it’s our profession. Anybody with a saw can cut down a tree but it’s the damage control that sets us apart. Even if it’s not the customers property that gets damaged, a fender ding, crumpled tailgate, smashed saw, pretzled pole saw, or “ sorry Boss, I don’t know how the skiddy jumped off of the trailer like that” is unacceptable.
 
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They recently started one, it’s x for 6 months and it resets. If anything is damaged or if you’re caught breaking policy you lose the incentive. I don’t find safety incentives to work, being safe in this industry keeps you alive and in one piece if that’s not enough incentive than find a different career. Property damage or breaking equipment sometimes can be a legitimate freak bounce/accident but reoccurring or patterns tend to weed out who stays and who goes but it’s getting harder to ship guys out because it’s taking longer to replace them.
 
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Incentives for safety to me always said that there's something wrong with the culture in the company in the first place. Posting so many days without a lost time accident OK. But I'd rather have safety as a "core value" and work in a place where everybody has your back and looks out for each other. So how about a real nice lunch and chinwag after a month without the ER? What was it? "Asking me to overlook a safety hazard is like asking me to put lower value on your life or your family's". Everybody safe 'n sound back at home at the end of the day (which includes Journey Management to and from worksites and also on the drive on the way home) . . . . Stay safe out there. It's been proven that you probably won't see it coming when it happens.
 
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ghostice said:
Incentives for safety to me always said that thre's something wrong with the culture in the company in the first place. Posting so many days without a lost time accident OK. But I'd rather have safety as a "core value" and work in a place where everybody has your back and looks out for each other. So how about a real nice lunch and chinwag after a month without the ER? What was it? "Asking me to overlook a safety hazard is like asking me to put lower value on your life or your family's". Everybody safe 'n sound back at home at the end of the day (which includes Journey Management to and from worksites and also on the drive on the way home) . . . . Stay safe out there. It's been proven that you probably won't see it coming when it happens.
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Came here to say this
 
I have never seen an incentive program, but I have also never felt great about working with guys that keep hitting the ground with the saws, or damaging the machines being careless. I would certainly love a bonus for not being an asshole, but when I think about working with guys who don't earn that, I certainly don't feel great. I need help sometimes, but I'd rather not do the job than do it with someone I don't trust with all my gear.
 
I don't think they are a good idea...but I worked on a commercial site/corporate offices. Had to go through their training. I remember so many people walking by saying "be safe" and the like. Even had the guy supervising our contract call to.say someone complained about a safety violation (it wasn't).

So I find out later, they do a year end safety bonus...not per person, but for everybody IF the accidents (both employees and contractors, and apparently, subcontractors) are below a certain threshold. So the idea is trying to make safety everyone's best interest rather than people saying "why do I care if the tree trimmer falls?".

I get it...but not sure it creates the culture they think it does. Off campus, we've had employees from that same place walk right through coned off sidewalks while we are pruning overhead.
 
Tom Dunlap said:
It’s been my understanding that OSHA doesn’t like monetize safety programs. And monetize isn’t just cash dollars or money awards. It has to do with goods also.

Take some time to research this before implementing it
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Interesting. I didn't know that one, we modeled ours off Bartlett's program, thinking it would have been well thought out. Ours was based on property damage though, not safety specifically, so maybe that's the difference?
 
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