Want to save money by cutting down on worker’s comp claims? The solution lies in shaping how your employees talk to one another.
It may have been a few months or even years since the last time your company had a workplace accident. But all it takes is someone forgetting to lift with his legs, and you’re dealing with an injury and a worker’s comp claim.
Training your employees on safe practices and installing protocols will help prevent some accidents. But if you want to drive your chances of employee injury even further down, look at how workers communicate with each other in terms of safety.
Chances are, safety is only mentioned when someone is doing something wrong.
If you really want to cut down on injuries, encourage your employees to talk about safety when someone does something right, Bill Zachry, a VP of risk management, recently advised CFO.com.
Peer reinforcement
At Zachry’s company, workers are urged to compliment colleagues who are following safe practices.
For example, a worker might praise another by saying, “Good job moving those boxes away from the doorway. Someone could have tripped.” Or, “Good idea asking me to hold the ladder steady; it’s shaky and you could have fallen.”
You might not be able to get everyone to join in on giving compliments, Zachry warns, but no one seems to mind getting them.
Knowing there’s a possibility they might get praised by a peer for performing tasks safely makes employees more likely to follow safety protocols they might otherwise forget or ignore.
It’s driven the injury rate at Zachry’s company down to practically zero, and best of all: It’s completely free.
Encouraging safety compliments at your company starts at the top. Ask managers to start observing and commenting on workers engaging in safe practices. Once they get the hang of it, tell them to pass it along to workers.
