Final Scope

Highway construction and maintenance is a uniquely hazardous industry. In 2019, OSHA incident data reported the recordable injury rate was 21% higher for highway construction and maintenance than general construction. Safety programs and policies have been created to seek improvement in safety performance. A common strategy to improve safety outcomes is the use of incentives and disincentives to motivate workers to perform safe behaviors. OSHA states that “incentive programs can be an important tool to promote workplace safety and health.” Examples of such incentive programs include rewarding workers for reporting near-misses or hazards and encourage the use of safety committees. Conversely, disincentive strategies can be used to discourage unsafe behaviors such as disciplinary actions for unsafe behaviors. Most safety incentive programs are either injury/illness/incident-based or behavior-based incentive programs. The former received some restrictions and clarification from OSHA stating that injury/illness/incident-based are allowable assuming there are no ramifications for reporting incidents. A recent study found that safety incentive programs have been effective at reducing experience modification ratings; lost-time workday incidents; and days away, job restrictions, or transfers. The same study also found that workers have a positive perception of safety incentive programs and believe they do improve safety outcomes.

The private construction sector has deployed incentive and disincentive programs with regularity. However, state departments of transportation (DOTs) have unique limitations on their ability to financially incentivize safe actions or use corrective actions to disincentivize unsafe actions. While difficult, some DOTs have found unique approaches to institute incentives, such as monetary awards, certificates, work crew awards, lunches, and more.

The objective of this synthesis is to document state DOT practice regarding safety incentive and disincentive programs for DOT highway construction and maintenance crews, related motivational techniques, and written policies or training to implement these programs.

Information to be gathered includes (but is not limited to):

·         Types of formal safety incentive or disincentive programs (i.e, structured, written DOT policy);

·         Types of informal safety incentive or disincentive programs (i.e., non-policy, non-metric driven);

·         Other safety motivational approaches (e.g., awareness, reminders, safety stand downs, safety training, safety accountability, leadership training);

·         Implementation strategies (e.g., formation of teams, communication plan, collective bargaining);

·         Program success and how success is measured (e.g., performance metrics, documented change in worker safety behavior);

·         Funding for incentive programs (e.g., sources, restrictions);

·         Manager and supervisor/foreman engagement (e.g., day-to-day participation and involvement, attending awards ceremonies, employee recognition);

·         Program training requirements (e.g., enforcement of safety practices, motivational skills for supervisors);

·         Written DOT program policies and procedures; and

·         Challenges for implementation (e.g., labor relations, funding).

Information will be collected through literature review, a survey of DOTs, and follow-up interviews with selected agencies for the development of case examples. Information gaps and suggestions for research to address those gaps will be identified.

Status

Completed report can be found at NCHRP Synthesis Report 60.