Safety Awakening – “Everyone Likes Recognition”

April 25, 2014 No Comments

“Everyone Likes Recognition”  

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Years ago my boss asked me to help him write a speech he was to give at a big national convention.  I worked hard on the speech and ended up writing most of it.   I attended the conference and was in the audience when our speech was delivered.  To my shock and surprise, my name was not even mentioned during the speech.  I was so deeply upset about this lack of recognition that I quit this job a few days later.

Everyone likes recognition.  As a safety professional you are in an excellent position to motivate fellow employees through the use of recognition.

Here are just of few of the ways I’ve used recognition when I was a safety manager:

• when inspecting the plant, try to “catch employees doing something right” and recognize them for it
• recognize safety volunteerism in company publications with photos and the names of folks who have volunteered
• thank supervisors and managers for exemplary safety efforts (and send a copy of the congratulatory memo to their supervisor)
• recognize drivers who have achieved safe driving milestones such as driving 1,000,000 consecutive miles without a preventable accident
• celebrate any employee act that may have prevented another employee from having a serious injury
• identify employees who have made meaningful safety suggestions at the safety committee meeting and on bulletin boards
• award pins or hard-hat decals to employees who participate on the safety committee 

 

Awakenings