Beyond the Bonus: Rethinking Incentives in Work Safety
Incentive programs can drive safety gains, but are they building true commitment or just compliance?
- By Peter Furst
- Jul 16, 2025
Every business potentially faces the possibility of accidental loss of property, income, liability, and/or injury to its employees. Organizations usually have a person or department responsible for this. They know all about exposure avoidance, loss prevention, loss reduction, segregation, and contractual transfer—to name a few. When it comes to managing the risk associated with employee safety, they usually look to the safety department or safety manager to address that area.
Legally, organizations are required to comply with the OSHA standards, which require training as a means to educate worker in safe work practices, along with other responsibilities. They are also required to carry workers compensation insurance to take care of any employee injured while performing their work. The burau of labor statistics require organizations to collect accident and injury data and submit this annually to them. This information is then used by organizational safety department to develop and deploy interventions in order to reduce such accidents going forward which usually results in some form of training, or targeted site inspections.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics since the inception of the OSHA standards, the safety performance of all U.S. industries has improved. The improvement resulted from a number of different interventions, such as the implementation of effective training, targeted jobsite inspections, coaching and counseling, better communication, hazard reporting. improved work methods, more housekeeping, utilization of safer technologies, as well as more through accident investigations, to name a few.
When sufficient improvement is not achieved, some organizations reverted to disciplinary actions, while others explored utilization of incentives to garner improvement. A great deal of debate surrounds the use of disciplinary action or incentives programs to improve and then maintain not just safety but also other construction operational performance. Incentive programs seem to outweigh disciplinary actions as a preferred or more acceptable means or method to garner improvement.
Data is crucial for identifying areas requiring improvement as well as making informed and critical decisions. By analyzing the data, organizations create information necessary to track and improve performance. It also pinpoints inefficiencies and validate the effectiveness of interventions. This ultimately leads to better outcomes. It is also essential to remember that data alone isn't always sufficient. Management experience and expertise as well as possibly consultants should also be considered, especially when dealing with complex human behavior issues.
Safety Incentive Program Types
Primarily, there are two types of safety management programs: those that are injury-based and those that are behavior-based. Recognition or rewards may be given to individuals or crews. The overall focus on accidents, injuries and losses sets a negative tone to the safety management processes while the behavioral approach increases interaction, provides the opportunity for interaction, understanding, and learning.
Injury-Based Programs. Recognition or rewards are given for avoiding or lowering the number of accidents and/or injuries during a set time period. A shortcoming of this criteria is that it may tempt workers to not report injuries, which may potentially cause the injury to become more serious. Another shortcoming is the system does not consider the effort that goes into avoiding the accident or the seriousness of the injury. This program is dependent on recordkeeping and does not encourage coaching and counseling through interaction between the safety practitioner and the workforce.
Behavior-Based Programs. This program observes worker safe behavior as the criteria for awarding the incentive. This may include attendance at safety training sessions, participation in safety meetings, offering task safety improvement suggestions, performing work in a safe manner, involvement, etc. Behavior-based observation can provide information about the state and usage of equipment, involvement of the workers, site conditions; all of which can affect the state of the work climate. As construction work progresses the physical conditions constantly change, which in turn changes the potential risk of accidents. This then drives the necessary change in the workforce’s behavior.
For either incentive program to function well the workforce has to be involved as well as motivated. Positive reinforcement, feedback, recognition and reward are considered the four major drivers of motivation. Positive reinforcement is most effective if it is given immediately following the desired behavior. To increase the chances that this occurs, it should be worksite practice for peers, who are in the best position, to deliver the timely reinforcement message. This would probably be greatly reinforced if the supervisor recognized it as well.
Incentive programs promote safe practices and encourage safe behavior. Smaller incentives handed out more often tend to be more effective that one big one handed out once a year. Recognition of a person in front of peers tends to be more effective than one on one. Incentives and rewards should be specified, understood, and more importantly should be perceived as achievable. It is also believed that it is more desirable to reward many participants rather than just one individual, making safety a group endeavor.
Benefits of Incentive Programs
A review of the literature involving the benefits of incentive programs on construction projects found a rather large number of affirmations of reducing accidents as well as improving the safety culture. These programs encourage adherence to safety protocols and reward safe behaviors.
They also encourage employee participation and create a stronger, safer work environment. Following is a list of resulting benefits:
- Reduced Workplace Accidents and Injuries
- Improved Employee Morale and Engagement
- Reduce errors & omissions
- Increase job satisfaction
- Compliance with Regulatory Requirements
- Increased Awareness and Adherence to Protocols
- Improved Productivity and Revenue
- Encouraged Reporting of Hazards
- Positive Impact on Company Reputation
- Highlight how Safety Incentive Programs Promote Workplace Safety
- Publicize that safety incentive programs matter
Shortcomings of Incentive Programs
Incentive programs in construction can result in unanticipated negative outcomes. They can potentially lead to underreporting of accidents, and to some extent unethical behavior. These programs can also create difficulty managing safe operations. They may possibly lead to disputes and conflicts. Moreover, they may not always align with expected business goals or be suitable for all types of construction projects.
Here's a more detailed look at the potential shortcomings:
1. Safety Issues:
- Focus on reward, not safety
- May create a culture of hiding incidents
- May increase negative outcome of unreported injuries
- Possible impact on other subcontractors
- Potential for goal conflict
- Damage culture of transparency & reporting
2. Challenges in Implementation and Management:
- Increased administrative oversight
- Difficult to track and measure performance
- Possible conflict with production goals
- Difficulty to implement project wide
3. Negative Impact on Operation:
- Possible interference of production
4. Potential for Ethical Issues and Conflict:
- Incentives may not align with business values
- May create competition and/or conflict
5. Limited Long-Term Effectiveness:
- Will only provide short term motivation
- May not address underlying issues
6. Other Considerations:
- May not be suitable for all projects
- May not align with business objectives
- May not motivate all employees
A great deal of research on the effectiveness of incentives in the safety area has been conducted. This highlighted the fact that offering incentives in construction safety can present several significant problems. Causing underreporting of incidents, a focus on rewards over genuine safety behavior, and the potential for short-term change rather than a long-term commitment to safety.
Conclusion
The answer to “do rewards work?” depends on a lot of factors! This includes the safety culture, work climate, leadership, management, policies, practices, procedures, values, vision, and on and on! Research suggests that, by and large, rewards succeed at securing one thing only: temporary or short-term compliance. When it comes to producing lasting change in attitudes and behavior, rewards are strikingly ineffective. They do not create an enduring commitment to value, beliefs, or action, but rather, incentives merely — and temporarily — change what we do.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2025 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.