Quarry Operator Transforms Safety Culture and Employee Engagement
Crushed Rock & Other Aggregate Materials | Multiple Locations | 250-300 Employees
Previous lagging indicator incentive systems experienced low effectiveness and created concerns about potential injury hiding. They wanted an improved safety culture and to create employee ownership of safety.
The Challenge
The company was using a traditional, lagging-indicator safety incentive program that leaders rated only 4 out of 10 in effectiveness. The program was used before OSHA's 2016 ruling about lagging indicator incentive programs and was designed to reward employees with cash if their team remained injury-free for a set period of time. But management had ongoing concerns about potential injury hiding, making it difficult for the organization to fully integrate incentives as a safety tool.
Leadership recognized the need to strengthen safety culture and build greater employee ownership of safety across the workforce. As a mining company, they have to meet the standards of both OSHA and MSHA (Mine Safety & Health Administration), the latter of which has particular compliance standards that they had been penalized for in the past. They wanted to promote consistent, thorough workplace examinations that could identify hazards and reduce risk before incidents occurred.
SmartCard® Focus: Reinforcement & Recognition
Working alongside the safety team, we helped leaders identify the behaviors that prevent incidents and align the program around these priorities:
-
Implement a behavior-based safety incentive program compliant with MSHA regulations that reinforces compliance standards.​
-
Improve reporting of potential safety issues.
-
Increase employee engagement with safety across teams and company locations.
-
Enhance manager-employee relationships around safety with intentional, daily positive reinforcement.
Behavior Change in Action
Engagement with SmartCard® started and remained strong– the company averages a 97% participation rate. ​
"Our engagement has been great... I think it motivates our employees and reinforces them to always do the right thing in terms of safety. It builds that manager-employee relationship which then motivates our employees. They're more productive. They're safer. And the morale overall has increased."
– Company HR Leader