How to build a safety incentive program that reduces risk & engages employees
By Laura Ojeda Melchor●5 min. read●Feb 26, 2026
Workplace injuries cost U.S. employers $58.78 billion annually, according to Liberty Mutual's 2025 Workplace Safety Index. That's more than a billion dollars a week in direct workers' compensation costs alone — and it doesn't count the productivity losses, overtime costs, and reputational damage that come with serious incidents.
Safety incentive programs are one of the most effective tools HR leaders have to reduce that number. When done right, they build a culture where safe behavior becomes second nature. Done wrong, they can suppress injury reporting and create real OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) compliance risk.
This guide covers everything you need to know to design an employee safety incentive program that reduces injuries, engages employees, and stays compliant.
A safety incentive program rewards employees for demonstrating safe behaviors, participating in safety training, or identifying workplace hazards — and when designed correctly, reduces injuries while maintaining OSHA compliance.
What is a safety incentive program?
These programs complement your existing safety protocols — they're not a replacement for training, equipment standards, or regulatory compliance. Think of them as the motivational layer on top of the foundation you've already built.
Safety programs are common in industries where physical hazards are more prevalent: manufacturing, construction, warehousing, transportation, healthcare, and oil and gas. But even offices and service-oriented businesses benefit from them, because accidents happen in every kind of workplace.
Three types of safety incentive programs
Outcome-based programs reward employees or teams for hitting specific safety metrics, like maintaining an injury-free streak for a set number of days. These are the most traditional type and come with significant compliance considerations (more on that below).
Behavior-based programs reward employees for consistently following safety protocols, such as wearing protective gear, using equipment correctly, and completing safety checklists. The focus is on observable actions, not outcomes.
Participation-based programs reward engagement with safety activities: attending training sessions, reporting hazards, joining safety committees, flagging near-misses. These programs build a culture where employees see safety as a shared responsibility.
Hybrid behavior and participation programs likely deliver the best results while avoiding the reporting suppression risks that come with outcome-based approaches.
Why safety incentive programs matter
The financial case
The numbers are hard to ignore. Overexertion, primarily from lifting and moving materials, costs employers $13.7 billion annually. Same-level falls cost another $10.5 billion. Together, the top ten causes of serious workplace injuries account for more than 86% of total injury costs.
What does that mean for ROI? Research published by the Institute for Work and Health found that employers with strong occupational health and safety performance see financial returns ranging from 24-114%, depending on sector. A separate survey of more than 400 chief financial officers found that over 60% reported each $1 invested in injury prevention returns $2 or more — with productivity cited as the top benefit.
In short: the cost of not having a safety program often exceeds the cost of running one well.
Compliance, retention, and culture
Beyond the financial case, safety programs help HR teams on three fronts.
First, regulatory and litigation risk. Workplace injuries expose organizations to OSHA citations, workers' compensation claims, and civil liability. A well-designed program reduces incident frequency and demonstrates a proactive safety culture to regulators.
Second, recruiting and retention. Employees care about safety. OSHA data shows that workplace safety ranks among the top criteria employees weigh when evaluating a new job offer. In competitive talent markets, a strong safety record is a genuine differentiator.
Third, employee engagement. When employees are recognized and rewarded for safe behaviors — not just penalized for violations — they're more likely to stay engaged and take ownership of the environment around them. That's where meaningful rewards matter. A $10 gift card for flagging a hazard signals that you're paying attention. A generic pizza party doesn't.
OSHA compliance: what HR needs to know
Compliance concerns sometimes stop HR teams from launching safety programs altogether. They shouldn't.
In October 2018, OSHA issued a memorandum explicitly clarifying that safety incentive programs do not violate anti-retaliation rules (including rate-based programs) as long as they aren't implemented in a way that discourages injury reporting.
Here's the practical distinction. An outcome-based program that withholds a team reward because one employee reported an injury creates peer pressure to stay silent. That's the problem OSHA is concerned about. A behavior-based program that rewards an employee for completing a safety checklist does not create such pressure. Reporting is irrelevant to earning the reward.
To run a rate-based program and stay compliant, OSHA's memo says employers should:
Run parallel programs that reward hazard identification and near-miss reporting
Train employees on their right to report injuries without fear of retaliation
Survey employees periodically to gauge whether they feel comfortable reporting
The takeaway: behavior and participation programs are inherently lower compliance risk. And the risk of not having any program — higher injury rates, higher costs, lower engagement — usually outweighs the compliance risk of a well-designed one.
How to build a safety incentive program: 5 steps
Step 1: Assess your current safety landscape
Start with your data. Review incident reports, near-miss logs, and workers' compensation claims. Look for patterns by department, shift, and job function. Where are injuries clustering? What types of hazards come up repeatedly?
Then talk to employees. Surveys and one-on-one conversations surface concerns that don't show up in formal reports. This step also sets the tone: you're creating a culture where concerns are welcomed, not suppressed. Document what you find and look for themes — those are the areas where a safety incentive program will have the biggest impact.
Step 2: Define clear, measurable goals
Effective safety programs reward the behaviors that prevent incidents, not just the absence of incidents. Instead of "reduce reported accidents by 10%," set goals like:
Increase hazard reports submitted per quarter by X%
Achieve 100% participation in required safety training
Complete monthly departmental safety audits
Increase near-miss reporting across flagged job functions
These are leading indicators — the actions that predict future safety outcomes. Tracking them gives you something to reward before accidents happen, and helps you measure improvement over time.
Step 3: Design your incentive structure
Decide what behaviors your program will reward, then build a structure that makes those rewards clear and achievable. A tiered approach works well for most organizations:
Immediate recognition (small gift cards, points) for individual actions like submitting a hazard report, completing a safety checklist, or attending a training session.
Monthly or quarterly rewards for employees who consistently meet safety participation goals — larger gift cards, bonus paid time off, or public recognition paired with a tangible reward.
Annual awards for exceptional contributions to safety culture — "Safety Champion" recognition, team awards for departments showing the most improvement, or charitable donations in a winner's name.
For team-based rewards, avoid tying them to zero-incident periods. That creates the same pressure-not-to-report problem as outcome-based programs. Instead, tie team rewards to participation rates, audit scores, or the number of hazards identified and resolved.
Step 4: Select meaningful rewards
The reward has to feel worth earning. That sounds obvious, but it's where a lot of programs fall short. Generic recognition, like a certificate or a shout-out in a company newsletter, doesn't motivate behavior change on its own.
Gift cards are the most versatile option because employees can choose what they actually want. Prepaid Visa cards work well for distributed or hourly workforces. Bonus paid time off resonates strongly with employees who have caregiving responsibilities. Public recognition works best when it's paired with something tangible.
Whatever you choose, give employees options. Tremendous lets recipients choose from thousands of reward options — gift cards, prepaid cards, PayPal, Venmo, and more — with digital delivery that works for office, remote, and field workforces alike. You can send individual or bulk rewards in minutes and track everything in real time.
Step 5: Communicate, launch, and iterate
A program no one understands won't work. Before launch, make sure every employee knows:
What behaviors and activities qualify for rewards
How to track their progress
When and how rewards are distributed
That reporting injuries or hazards will never result in losing a reward
Plan for quarterly check-ins after launch. If certain behaviors aren't being rewarded as often as you'd like, adjust the criteria or the reward value. If participation is low in a specific department, talk to the manager. Treat the program as a living system — one that gets better as you learn more about what motivates your people.
Safety incentive ideas that actually motivate
Behavior and participation ideas
Spot awards for observed safe behaviors. A supervisor who notices an employee correctly using PPE or following lockout/tagout procedures can issue a $15–25 gift card on the spot. Immediacy matters — the closer the reward is to the behavior, the more reinforcing it is.
Training completion rewards. Scale the reward to the effort. A 30-minute refresher course and an eight-hour certification aren't the same commitment. Reward accordingly.
Hazard reporting rewards. Offer a set reward for each verified hazard report submitted. Consider a tiered structure: five reports earns a bronze reward, ten earns silver, fifteen earns gold. This encourages ongoing vigilance, not a one-time submission.
Near-miss reporting rewards. Near-misses are the most valuable safety data your organization collects — they tell you where accidents are most likely to happen before they do. Reward employees not just for reporting, but for contributing analysis on how to prevent recurrence.
Safety meeting attendance points. Build a points system where employees accumulate points for each safety meeting, audit, or inspection they participate in. Redeem points for rewards on a quarterly basis.
Safety idea of the month. Invite employees to submit suggestions for improving safety procedures, equipment handling, or workflow. The winning idea gets a meaningful reward — and if the idea gets implemented, offer a larger bonus.
Team and milestone ideas
Quarterly team bonuses tied to leading indicators (participation rates, training completion percentages, hazards identified and closed) reward collective effort without creating pressure to hide individual incidents.
Department competitions where teams compete on safety participation metrics. The winning department gets to direct a charitable donation in their name, or receives a shared reward like a team lunch with a meaningful gift card for each person.
Annual Safety Champion awards for employees who go above and beyond — frontline workers who consistently model safe behavior, people who identify significant hazards, or employees who lead by example in safety training participation.
Measuring safety incentive program effectiveness
Tracking the right metrics is how you know whether your program is working and how you make the case for continued investment.
Leading vs. lagging indicators
Lagging indicators (injury rates, workers' compensation claims, OSHA recordables) tell you what already happened. Leading indicators (training completion, hazard reports, near-miss submissions, audit scores) tell you where you're headed. You need both, but leading indicators are what drive program decisions.
Key metrics to track
Participation rate (percentage of eligible employees actively engaged in the program)
Training completion rates by department
Number of hazards reported and resolved per quarter
Near-miss reports submitted
Safety audit scores over time
Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) and Days Away, Restricted, and Transferred (DART) rate
Workers' compensation claim frequency and cost
Employee survey scores on safety culture and reporting comfort
Calculating ROI
A basic ROI calculation compares your program costs — rewards, administration, communication — against measurable savings: lower workers' compensation claims, fewer lost-time days, avoided OSHA penalties, reduced insurance premiums. Organizations could possibly see positive ROI within 12-18 months of launching a well-designed program.
Tremendous simplifies the administrative cost side of the equation by handling reward fulfillment, automated tax documentation (W-9 and 1099 collection), and recipient support. Less time spent on logistics means more time spent on the program itself.
Common mistakes to avoid
Rewarding outcomes instead of behaviors. Programs that reward injury-free periods suppress reporting without actually preventing injuries. Reward the actions that lead to prevention instead.
Using low-value or generic rewards. A $5 gift card or a certificate doesn't motivate behavior change. Give employees choice, and make the reward feel worth earning.
Launching without baseline data. You can't measure improvement without knowing where you started. Pull your incident reports, survey your workforce, and document your baseline before day one.
Treating the program as set-and-forget. Safety programs need ongoing attention. Quarterly reviews, employee feedback, and willingness to adjust criteria keep the program relevant and effective.
Designing the program without frontline input. The people closest to the work know where the risks are. Involve them in program design from the beginning — they'll help you identify the right behaviors to reward and the barriers to participation.
Getting started with your safety incentive program
A safety incentive program that rewards behaviors and participation, stays OSHA-compliant, and offers meaningful rewards isn't just good for employee wellbeing — it's good for your bottom line. Fewer injuries mean lower claims costs, lower insurance premiums, and fewer days of lost productivity.
A platform like Tremendous makes the rewards side easy. With thousands of reward options, coverage in 230+ countries and regions, instant digital delivery, and built-in tax compliance, you can launch and manage your safety incentive program without building reward infrastructure from scratch.
