Page 71 - Occupational Health & Safety, June 2019

Employee Gifts & Incentives
The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same
Tracking OSHA’s shifting position regarding safety incentive programs.
BY SEAN ROARK
What follows is an update on the cur- rent state of regulations for safety incentive programs, augmented with observations regarding OSHA’s shifting position on outcome-based safety awards. Understanding the forces influencing regulations can help safety program managers to make certain their programs are created with appropriate intent and designed to support a safer workplace that also clearly supports the reporting requirements.
Differing Views
Many companies have historically rewarded in- tentional safety by their workers. Signs touting the number of days since an accident, picnics, sporting events, and gifts have all been used to thank em- ployees. However, when it comes to outcome-based rewards for results-based safety records (e.g., “Thir- ty days without an accident equals celebrating with a pizza party for lunch”), OSHA has traditionally seen it differently.
To be fair, OSHA has supported performance- based safety incentive awards, such as identify- ing a potential hazard or volunteering to serve on a safety committee. At the same time, OSHA has a legacy of criticizing outcome-based incentives, such as rewarding a month, quarter, or year of ex- ceptional safety.
The inclusion of outcome-based rewards has proven to be an effective and ethical part of any behavioral modification campaign, such as a safety incentive program. Many whitepapers and pro- gram results analyzed by respected independent authorities support this. OSHA, however, does not share this view of how to encourage and reward a safe work environment.
An employer might want to uplift its employees by telling them, “To celebrate everyone being safe for the whole year, we want to give each of you a nice gift!” OSHA often takes a much darker posi- tion that this statement is more of an implied threat.
OSHA viewed the above message as subterfuge intended to communicate a message more along these lines: “Here is a nice gift, but you will not get
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the gift if you file an accident report or do anything that reveals you did not have a perfect safety record. Oh, and one other thing, if you report an accident, none of your work friends will get the shiny gift, and they will all blame you!”
OSHA has proposed that any outcome-based reward carries an inferred message that anyone who “plays ball” and doesn’t report an accident or injury will benefit by getting a “payoff” of some kind. To use their terminology, rewarding a posi- tive safety record is simply “encouraging under- reporting.” This position completely disregards all of the independent studies showing gratitude and appreciation for excellent performance is one of the single greatest game changers in improving morale and changing behaviors.
A Repetitive Cycle
OSHA seems to take a regulatory position against result-based awards every five years or so, then see that position knocked down in court. Once struck down, the cycle begins again.
The latest, and very pronounced, iteration of this cycle occurred in 2017, when OSHA imple- mented new “Anti-Retaliatory Enforcement Pro-
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