Creating a Culture of Safety Recognition: Best Practices for Employers

by Mar 23, 2023

Promoting a positive work culture and psychological safety as a crucial part of employee well-being and productivity – that’s why it’s at the top of our minds. How about yours? Part of creating a safe workplace environment involves encouraging employees to prioritize safety on the job – and it could include psychological safety too! So let’s talk about safety recognition programs.

 

What are Safety Recognition Programs?

Safety recognition programs are structured initiatives that reward employees for following safety protocols and engaging in safe behavior. These programs can include public praise, awards, or certificates for meeting specific safety goals, such as reducing workplace accidents or increasing compliance with safety procedures.

As I said above, consider that your safety program could include psychological safety too. What could it be like if people on the manufacturing floor were tracking days without physical accidents AND days without causing someone psychological harm? 

Okay, that might sound a little silly. But really, why can’t you find ways to include psychological safety in your safety programs?

Safety recognition programs can motivate employees to prioritize safety and reinforce its importance in your organization’s culture. Respectful behavior recognition programs can do the same. 

 

Best Practices for Safety Recognition Programs

We’ve identified some best practices for designing and implementing successful safety recognition programs, including:

 

  • Tie recognition to company values

Establishing safety procedures and recognition programs alone won’t be sufficient to foster a healthy workplace culture. To emphasize the significance of these programs and develop a culture where safety is truly prioritized, make sure you match them with the company’s values and mission. In other words, your organization’s values and mission should be included in your safety recognition initiatives.

One way to do that is to review how your core values can influence safety. If one of your values is Respecting Diversity and Building Inclusion, for example, you might communicate that when people are included they’re more confident in speaking up if someone’s doing something unsafe, or if they see an issue that could cause an accident. 

 

  • Provide ongoing training

This might go without saying, but make sure your employees have the knowledge and skills they need to work safely. (There, I said it.) Provide ongoing training to reinforce safe practices and help employees stay up-to-date on any changes to safety regulations. 

Beyond the physical safety stuff, if you’re tying safety into your core value of Respecting Diversity and Building Inclusion, you can train and measure people on their ability to include others as part of your safety initiatives and recognition. 

We offer a range of training programs designed to help organizations create safer and more positive work environments!

 

  • Celebrate successes

Celebrate employees who meet or exceed safety goals. Who doesn’t love a good celebration of their achievements? Doing so can build morale and motivation among employees, and create a sense of pride and accomplishment that can lead to more engagement. Of course, increased engagement means increased productivity. 

So make time to celebrate safety successes regularly, whether through informal recognition, formal award ceremonies, or other types of incentives. 

 

  • Track and analyze 

Monitor pertinent data, such as the number of safety incidents before and after the program’s adoption, to evaluate its effectiveness. This way you can spot trends and potential improvement areas, then adapt as needed to maximize the program’s impact.

Make sure your program is tailored and relevant to your employees and organization. Create a safer and healthier workplace culture through safety recognition programs!

 

Sincerely, 

Catherine, Jenny & The Civility Partners Team

Do you know how much money chronically bad behavior costs your company? Spoiler alert – it’s a LOT higher than you want it to be. Download our data and worksheet to see how it’s costing your organization and what you can do to fix it.

 

Catherine

About Catherine Mattice

Catherine Mattice, MA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the founder/CEO of Civility Partners, an organizational development firm focused on helping organizations create respectful workplace cultures and specializing in turning around toxic cultures. Civility Partners’ clients range from Fortune 500’s to small businesses across many industries. Catherine is a TEDx speaker and an HR thought-leader who has appeared in such venues as USA Today, Bloomberg, CNN, NPR, and many other national news outlets as an expert. She’s an award-winning speaker, author and blogger, and has 50+ courses reaching global audiences on LinkedIn Learning. Catherine’s award-winning book, BACK OFF! Your Kick-Ass Guide to Ending Bullying at Work, was hailed by international leadership-guru, Ken Blanchard, as, “the most comprehensive and valuable handbook on the topic.” Her latest book is Navigating Toxic Work Environments For Dummies (Wiley).

Join our FREE WEBINAR – Fostering a Workplace Where Feedback Fuels Change

Imagine this: A senior leader makes an offhanded, inappropriate remark in a team meeting. The room tenses, eyes drop, and a few uncomfortable chuckles fill the silence. No one speaks up. You’re caught off guard, unsure what to do. Later, someone from that meeting...

Silence Is Not Golden: 5 Ways Lack of Feedback Kills Productivity

Whenever you search on Google or ask ChatGPT for something, you get an answer in a snap. An unintended result of this technology is that we expect immediate feedback from people, too. A lack of feedback kills productivity.  In 2008, tech scholar Nicholas Carr raised a...

5 Ways to Give Feedback to a Toxic Worker About Their Toxic Behavior

If you’ve landed on this page, chances are you’re looking for answers. Maybe you’ve tried everything, or maybe you’re bracing yourself for a conversation you’d rather not have. Or you don't know how to give feedback to a toxic worker about their behavior. Either way,...

It’s Not All in Your Head: 5 Signs You’re In a Toxic Workplace

If you’ve ever questioned whether your workplace is truly toxic or if you’re just “overreacting,” you’re not alone. The truth is, if work feels unbearable day after day, it’s not a bad week—it’s a bigger problem. It could be signs you're in a toxic workplace. Research...

Struggling with a Toxic Boss? Read This

Did you know that seven in ten U.S. workers say they would leave a job if they had a bad manager? That’s according to the latest findings of LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence survey. Leaders who exhibit challenging behaviors don’t just cost their organizations talented...

NEW BOOK: Navigating a Toxic Work Environment for Dummies

Does your workplace feel like a daily battle for survival? Endless conflict, backstabbing, bullying, and leadership that turns a blind eye… Sound familiar? For too many professionals, the workplace isn’t a place of productivity and growth; it’s a source of anxiety and...

DEI needed if hiring on merit is your goal

Trump has initiated a series of actions aimed at dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the federal government. On January 20, he signed Executive Order 14151, titled "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and...

The Transformative Power of Hands-On vs. AI Training

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the workplace, and HR functions are no exception. From recruitment to onboarding and even manager training, AI-based platforms are becoming the go-to solution for many organizations. These programs promise scalable,...

Get Buy-In From the Top! Email To Your Boss

When you've discovered a valuable resource or service that could benefit your organization, getting buy-in from leadership is critical.  Use this email template to propose Civility Partners' services to your boss. Simply customize the placeholders with your own...

Fostering Civil Conversations at Work

SHRM’s Civility Index Research shows that U.S. workers collectively experience 223 million acts of incivility per day and U.S. organizations collectively lose about $2 billion per day in reduced productivity and absenteeism because of it.  You’ve probably seen it...