For years, organizational leaders have used incentives to try and motivate safety. The rationale is that providing financial rewards for not getting hurt will motivate employees to “try harder” for safety. In reality, this often encourages non-reporting which is why OSHA now discourages outcome-based incentives. Plus, people are already motivated to avoid injury. Effective incentives, if used, should focus on proactive safety behaviors and efforts. Rewards should be symbolic and safety themed. Genuine appreciation and recognition trump all other incentives. Take the quiz below to see how well you’re managing safety incentives.

Effective communication is the cornerstone of a healthy safe production culture. This is particularly important with one-on-one conversations with employees. Employees who feel listened to and appreciated are more likely to go beyond the call of duty for safety and other organizational efforts. Effective communicators demonstrate genuine caring, promote psychological safety, actively listen, and provide recognition regularly. How strong are your safety communication skills? Take the quiz below to find out.

Does your organization reinforce a culture of reporting or is there some fear (or hassle) associated with close call events? The answer to that question is a great litmus test for your overall safe production culture. The purpose of reporting close calls (and minor injuries) is to promote a learning culture and avoid serious injuries in the future. Close call reporting, when done correctly, is a powerful tool to improve safety culture and prevent serious injuries and fatalities. How well does your organization manage close call reporting? Take the following quiz and find out.

Organizational leaders are increasingly turning to Human Performance (HP) principles to improve safety culture and prevent SIFs. HP emphasizes the importance of improving environmental contingencies to encourage safe work practices. In other words, fix the system to improve safety and don’t blame employees following incidents. Basic HP tenants include (Williams & Roberts, 2018): See details in the link below. Do your leaders incorporate human performance elements to improve safety culture and prevent SIFs? Take this quiz and find out.

Improving safety culture is vital to long term performance excellence. Organizations with weak or underdeveloped safety cultures typically find that incident rates unexpectedly fluctuate without apparent rhyme or reason. Leaders in these organizations struggle for sustained reductions in incidents, property damage, and injuries. Forward thinking leaders are continually searching for ways to advance safety culture and prevent serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs). Take the following quiz and find out.