It is illogical to assume that an otherwise unsafe person would modify their behavior simply by virtue of the fact that they have been arbitrarily assigned to a group.
I think that UPS's motive behind "group" recognition is to create a subtle form of peer pressure that will discourage a person from reporting an injury out of fear that he/she would somehow be punishing the entire "group". This is textbook group psychology.
But when we are talking about a group of adult drivers who make $50K+ per year, it is rather absurd to think that one of them would avoid reporting an injury out of fear that the fellow members of his "group" will lose out on a $5 trinket or some coffee and doughnuts.
Of course, absurdity has never stopped UPS from doing things before.
soberups,
Thanks for your excellent contribution to this discussion thread.
Based upon the culture and lack of union solidarity maybe it is not as absurd as you think.
A lot of employees are overly dependent on how others view them or will view them about a lot of different things.
I want to point out that it is not an arbitrary assignment. Individuals are grouped together in close work groups.
I agree with you 100%. The only purpose for recognizing groups for 0 accidents/0 injuries is to keep downward pressure on the injury and accident numbers.
In a large corporation
reported injury and accident numbers are everything.
Anything that people in large company can do to put downward pressure on these numbers is considered a good thing.
This false type of safety recognition is just one of those things.
This kind of safety recoginition will make
some weak willed people think twice before reporting certain injuries or accidents.
If a large corporation can get some of the workforce (probably more than you or I would want to admit)make something that is supposed to be objective(like reporting all injuries and accidents) into something that is subjective then the company can continue to wrongfully influence these numbers.
Sincerely,
I