Situation

Union employees for one regional plant were strictly forbidden from participating on “improvement teams” or working to make changes at the local level. What started as an honest attempt at preserving jobs and overall satisfaction was making it difficult to make improvements that would benefit everyone. Safety, however, was one area everyone could agree to work on.

Team Engagement Strategy

A small team of frontline, union employees was engaged to help increase employee engagement in safety activities, improve employee morale and reduce workplace incidents. They used Rapid Action, a toolkit to help teams solve problems, as their foundation to make progress in less than 60-days.

Rapid Action Project Charter

How can we increase employee participation in safety in order to increase engagement, improve morale and reduce incidents on the mill floor?

Sample Solutions Implemented

1. Created a recognition program for “Accident Free” years of service.
2. Engaged employees and their families in a safety awareness campaign that included creation of safety awareness signs, safety posters (hand-drawn by kids) and calendars for distribution throughout the organization.
3. Started a random draw to award prizes based on number of accident free days.