Let’s Talk Health and Safety: 5 Ways You Can Recognize Safety at Work All Year Long

May 19, 2023

Guest Author: Mallory Dunbar, Learning Specialist, Greatness Magnified

Last week we explored how to revamp your health and safety strategy through safety incentive programs.

Among the two types of programs, behaviour-based structures, which focus on recognizing safety-focused behaviours that prevent future incidents and injuries, are more successful in promoting a safety culture.

In honour of Workplace Health and Safety, we want to share with you some ideas on how to tie recognition into your health and safety strategy to build a culture of safety.

 

• Peer-to-Peer Recognition Program: Have employees nominate each other when they observe someone demonstrating safe behaviour (ex., using the ladder correctly, filling out the correct paperwork, disposing of waste properly). Hold a prize draw at the end of each month and give the winner a prize. Peer-to-peer programs work to build safety into the company culture, and they make employees feel good knowing their peers recognize and value their efforts – win-win!
  

 

• Safety Savant of the Month Award: Each month, have employees nominate one another or select an employee to win Safety Savant of the Month. Award them with a certificate, their picture in the safety hall of fame, and a gift card. If you have a larger organization, consider making it a team-based award. Certificates and hall of fame may seem silly, but they show employees just how much you value and recognize the effort they put in on a daily basis.

 

• Safety Raffle: When you observe an employee exemplifying safe behaviour or when an employee reports an incident or a near miss, thank them and hand them a raffle ticket. Each quarter, host an organization-wide raffle. The prizes could be tangible items or fun rewards like a pizza lunch or half-day Fridays. This is a fun way to incorporate individual recognition with rewards.

 

• Health and Safety Training: Motivate employees to advance their health and safety training with a point system. Assign points to different types of training, and have prizes of varying value that can be redeemed for those points. Prizes can start off small with a company water bottle and work all the way up to an extra day off. This motivates employees to advance their training and emphasizes the importance of an informed and safety-conscious team.

 

• Safety Seminar: When employees come forward and report a near miss or potential hazard, hold a safety seminar to brainstorm potential solutions or processes to eliminate the hazard (when the issue is not time-sensitive). Reward the person or team who comes up with the solution with a catered lunch for their department. By giving employees a chance to discuss incidents, you remove any shame and blame surrounding them and turn it into a learning opportunity. Plus, by having the solution come from employees, you receive more buy-in from your team.

Can we help build recognition into your health and safety culture? Can we help to connect you with a rockstar in the field of health and safety? Reach out to us anytime. We would love to support you: info@greatnessmagnified.com

For some scrumptious bites on how recognition helps create a safer workplace, check out this previous blog post with our good friend Lee-Anne Lyon-Bartley.

Here are even more yummy ideas to help you create a recognition program that will promote a sense of safety and belonging:

• The Great Resignation: Are They Voting With Their Feet?

• 2022 Focus: The Year of the Employee Experience

• Sussing out Blame, Shame and Scapegoating: Repairing Relationships to Recognize and Retain the Best