Plastic Manufacturer Experiences 242% ROI in Safety Within 2 Years

This client is a leading producer of food and medical grade sealed packaging and film. They had previously invested in other employee recognition programs with little success, but SmartCard® reversed accident costs and reduced injuries by 75%.

Films & Packaging Manufacturing | 24/7 Shift Production | 1,100-1,500 Emloyees

The Challenge

When we met this client, their safety record was already better than many of their peers– their TRIR was 0.85, which was 75% lower than their industry's average. The company had tried an employee recognition program in the past, but it failed because:

The platform was difficult to navigate.
Rewards were generic and lacked variety.
Points took too long to add up to anything meaningful, making rewards feel unattainable.

Injuries and accidents often occurred when employees took shortcuts in the name of keeping up with their high-volume, fast-paced environment. In addition, most of the equipment was over 40 years old and not built to the safety standards of modern equipment.

SmartCard® Focus: Safety > Production

When we met with their leadership and frontline managers, we identified these key areas for improvement:

Following appropriate safety protocol (ex. lockout/tagout, contacting maintenance) over taking a risk to keep machines running or "do-it-myself" fixes.
Adhering to PPE and dress standards, such as tucking in shirttails and not wearing headphones or jewelry on the production floor.
Housekeeping, maintaining the orderliness and cleanliness of the production environment.
Fostering an "owner mentality" characterized by assisting outside of their usual duties, identifying areas for improvement, offering solutions and learning from failures.

Behavior Change in Action

Their previous engagement program had fallen flat– only 6% of employees were enrolled. But the streamlined design and attractive rewards in AOE Rewards motivated employees to participate, and led to fantastic results.

Their TRIR reduced from 0.85 to 0.08. They averaged about 2 recordable injuries annually, down from 30 the year before. In 3 years, they saved $1.75 million on Worker's Compensation.

Worker's Compensation Savings with SmartCard®

97% decrease in Worker's Compensation costs in just 3 years.

Time

Percent Reduction from Year Prior

Total Annual WC Expense

Day 1 (pre-SmartCard®)

$1,800,000

Year 1

56%

$800,000

Year 2

45%

$440,000

Year 3

89%

$47,000

TRIR

Before

After

0.85

0.08

Employee Engagement

After

Before

92%

Why It Worked

Although leadership worried that previous engagement efforts had left employees skeptical, attitudes shifted quickly once workers saw the caliber of rewards their peers were receiving. Participation accelerated and has stayed steady over time.

Using SmartCard®, the company drove a 700% year-over-year increase in near-miss reporting. The reports themselves became more actionable, as SmartCard® helped clarify expectations and consistently reinforce the company’s desired safety standards.

Reinvesting: SmartCard® for Quality

In work groups that had historically struggled to improve safety performance, the company saw significant gains—not only in safety, but in quality as well. The savings generated from reduced incidents were reinvested into a quality initiative that used the same positive reinforcement, behavior-based approach to address product defects before items left the facility.

"When the safety director presented the ROI in a briefing with their new site leader, the new site leader said: 'That's absurd!' We laughed, too, and reminded him that it was his safety director who calculated the results."

– David Sims, Sr., Vice President of the Bill Sims Company, Inc.