WORK SAFE/BE WELL

Plant Operations' Safety Incentive Program

Many questions have been asked about Plant Operation's Safety Incentive Program. We hope you find this brief overview helpful. More detailed information can be found in the Safety Program binder within your department.

The Work Safe Be Well Team developed the Safety Incentive Program to increase the awareness of health and safety within Plant Operations. The Work Safe Be Well Team also thought there should be an incentive for people who were already working more safely. The incentive program was also designed to:

• Track the amount of time lost when workers seek medical treatment due to on the job accidents,
• Give our workers an incentive to work more safely by allowing them to directly benefit from reduced costs of accidents, and
• Give workers an incentive to self-treat minor injuries that only need first aid (Band-Aid type injuries) without going for formal medical treatment.

Using data collected in fiscal year 94-95 the average cost of lost time was determined to be $260 per person. The Work Safe Be Well Team decided that 10% of this amount should be devoted to the incentive award (i.e. $26/person). The Departments are divided into two groups.

Group A includes those departments with small numbers of employees: Grounds, Parking & Transportation, Moving and Trucking, Plant Administration.

"Many people throughout the campus, and especially in Plant Operations, were very cooperative with the inspectors despite the disruption to their daily work schedules," Alexander said. "We appreciate the efforts of our U-M staff members to help make this a safer place in which to work."

Group B includes departments with larger numbers of employees: Building Services and Utilities & Maintenance Services.

The safety goal for units in Group A is to have zero lost time accidents during a designated award period. The Incentive Award is reduced for each "lost time accident" that occurs during the award period.

The safety goal for those in Group B is to reduce the number of lost work time accidents by 25% from the established base line during a designated award period. If the lost time accidents are reduced by 25%, the unit will receive the full award. If the unit's lost time accidents are reduced by 10%, they will receive half the amount.

All permanent employees who do not have a lost time accident during the award period will be eligible for an award. Managers and supervisors may be excluded from eligibility. Each department can determine the most meaningful way of awarding these incentives.

What is a lost work time accident you ask? A "lost time work accident" is considered to be any time a worker leaves their assigned work area for the sole purpose of receiving some sort of formal medical treatment due to a work related incident.

There have also been questions about "lost time" from an "old" accident. The Work Safe Be Well Team interpretation of "old" accidents is that all lost work time should be traced back to the original accident, unless a subsequent accident has occurred to re-injure an old injury.

For example: If a worker sprains their ankle and goes for medical treatment in December, this is a "new" lost time accident. If that same worker goes back for medical treatment (physical therapy, follow-up exam, etc.) in January, then this is still lost time but is traced back to the original, now "old" accident in December. If the worker "re-injures" the same ankle in July, this would be considered another "new" accident. However if the worker simply aggravates the old injury through regular work activities, but still needs medical treatment, it becomes a judgment call as to whether or not to consider it a "new" accident. In the event of a dispute, the Work Safe Be Well Team and a Lead Team manager will be consulted.

If you have any further questions about the Safety Incentive Program, please refer to your Safety Program binder or talk to your supervisor.

A special THANK YOU to Keith Trombley and the Work Safe Be Well Team for leading this initiative.

- Anna Tobias, Parking & Transportation Services