Workplace Safety Is Not a Game

Employer-sponsored “safety games” or “safety contests” may seem benign on the surface, but there’s a deadly motive.

Employers are rediscovering an old scheme to con workers into undermining their own job safety. These games are designed to reward employees for not reporting accidents.

In one United Electrical Workers (UE) shop, management (without consulting with the union) announced a new safety game. Each month the names of employees are put into a pool for a $100 prize drawing, but only if their department has not reported any accidents.

If your department has reported an accident, you’re not eligible. If more than three accidents are reported in the plant, the drawing is not held.

WHAT’S WRONG HERE?

The union objected to this “game” precisely because it makes a game of safety. It pits workers against each other. Some workers will blame someone who gets hurt for ruining their chances to win the prize.

The focus is switched from the removal of unsafe working conditions to not reporting accidents. It places the blame on workers, as if workers have accidents on purpose.

There are other variations on this game. “Safety Bingo” turns up every once in a while. Workers are all given bingo cards and there’s a prize. Numbers are only drawn each week that there’s no accident.

In the worst versions of this game, management will post the names of workers who had accidents and thereby “ruined” everybody’s chance to play bingo that week.

HARD TO STOP

These games can easily get divisive, especially when the union tries to put a stop to them. Members may get angry that the union is “spoiling their chance to win.” There’s nothing a boss likes more than a divided union membership.

So it’s best to pull the band-aid off right away, before people get invested in the game. Stewards must quickly oppose the games and explain why.

Try to make people see reason. These “safety games” are daredevil stunts that, for example, we’d never let our teenage sons and daughters participate in.

MONEY

Why don’t bosses want accidents reported? Money.

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Insurance companies base the premiums they charge for workers compensation on the nature and frequency of accidents and injuries. As more accidents are reported, premium costs go up.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires all employers to keep logs that list every accident or injury, called OSHA 300 logs. If the logs show too many accidents and injuries, OSHA may come in and inspect the worksite.

If an injury is not reported as a workplace injury, the boss’s obligations to the worker under the workers compensation laws don’t exist. If the injury causes problems in the future, the company has no long-term obligation to the worker, especially if the person no longer works there.

SAFETY REWARDS: ALWAYS BAD?

The union should oppose all programs that:

• cause workers not to report accidents or injuries
• try to pit worker against worker
• start with the idea that employees are the cause of accidents and injuries

The union can be in favor of programs that give rewards for pointing out unsafe working conditions or for suggesting ways to eliminate accidents and injuries. Not surprisingly, very few such programs exist.

The best solution is an active union health and safety committee that is trained to look for unsafe working conditions, and stewards who grieve such conditions.

CAN THEY DO THIS?

Health and safety is a mandatory subject of bargaining. So if the employer wishes to start any sort of health and safety program that affects wages, hours, or working conditions, it must bargain with the union.

In some cases these “behavior-based safety programs” may also violate the law.

OSHA and most state workers compensation laws forbid punishing or discriminating against a worker for reporting an accident or injury. Taking the worker out of a prize drawing may violate these laws.

Contests that make public the names of workers who get hurt and therefore stop other workers from getting prizes can be deemed illegal because they subject the injured worker to discrimination from others.

Programs that encourage workers not to report accidents or injuries may also violate the law. OSHA mandates that every accident or injury must be reported and logged.

This article is adapted from the UE Steward, which publishes many great how-to articles. Browse them all at bit.ly/UESteward.