ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609200019
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
Successful company safety programs are led by workers who have a "passion" for what they're trying to accomplish, according to Scott Geller, a Virginia Tech behavioral psychologist and workplace safety expert.
Geller, who is director of Tech's Center for Applied Behavior Systems, has written a monthly column on worker attitudes and behavior in Industrial Safety and Hygiene News since 1990 and has a new book just out by Chilton Press, "Working Safe: How to Help People Actually Care for Health and Safety."
A good safety program must be run from the bottom up, Geller said. "The employees have to own it," he said.
He has taught safety seminars around the country. Earlier this year 12 employees of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad attended one at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. He has, however, never worked with Norfolk Southern Corp., which has 3,100 workers in the Roanoke Valley.
Norfolk Southern seems to be doing all right in that regard. After the railroad asked the DuPont Co., an industrial safety leader, to examine and make recommendations about its safety program in the late 1980s, the railroad turned over responsibility for managing safety to workers with management playing a supporting role.
Other things a good safety program does, Geller said, include:
Teaching workers the principles behind safety rules and procedures. It doesn't just train people but educates them on the reasons behind the rules.
Addressing problems in the work environment that could compromise safety.
Targeting workers' behavior, meaning how they do their work.
Examining workers' attitudes, feelings and sense of ownership toward the safety program. The program should attempt to give them the passion they need to make changes in their behavior.
"Safety needs to be fact finding, not fault finding," Geller continued. "We need to eliminate punishment for having an injury. We need to open up people's discussion about safety."
The number of first-aid cases or accident investigations a company has may be a better indication that its safety program is working than a declining rate of reportable injuries, Geller said. He said he's not convinced that the reportable injury rate, on which the rail industry bases its annual safety awards, is the best way to measure a company's safety progress.
Geller also disagrees with a Norfolk-Southern program that rewards people in the work group with the lowest injury rate by giving them five shares of company stock. NS also gives those employees two more shares completing the year with no injuries. At the current price of NS stock that can mean more than $600 per year.
Research indicates that a group reward system discourages employees from reporting injuries, Geller said. A worker, he said, will hesitate to report an injury when he knows it will destroy the reward for his group. "The numbers stay down," he said, "but safety doesn't improve."
Rewards should be given to individuals for doing things for safety, Geller said. "Money should never be used as a reward in a safety incentives program," he said. "The point is safety of co-workers."
NS vice president Jon Manetta said the company had discussed both sides of the stock rewards program and decided it has merit. So far, the company hasn't heard of any case where an employee was harassed because he knocked someone out of an award, Manetta said.
When it comes to safety, Geller said he teaches "actively caring," which means going beyond the call of duty for other people's health and safety.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB