How to celebrate safety success

Surveys of safety professionals show worker morale to be top concern. Lean and mean downsizing has shaken spirits in many organizations, leading to apathy, helplessness and less willingness to look out for the safety and health of others. What can we do to respond?

Giving and receiving quality recognition are prime ways to boost morale. When done correctly, safety celebrations can be an antidote for sagging morale. They can motivate teamwork, build a sense of belonging and boost our desire to actively care for others.

Management’s primary role in a safety celebration should be to facilitate discussions of activities that led to success. The best safety celebration I observed was planned by employees and featured a series of presentations by teams of workers. Numerous safety ideas were shared. Some workers showed off new personal protection equipment, some discussed their procedures for encouraging near-hit reports and implementing corrective action and one group presented an ergonomic analysis and redesign of a workstation.

Safety celebrations can be meaningful and memorable events that serve as a stepping stone for greater achievements.