Safety Bingo
motivates employees to avoid workplace accidents.
Safety Bingo was invented in 1987 by Pam Goodman-Perlmutter to help reduce workplace injuries--and the cost of Workman's Compensation insurance--at her family's business. With more than 50 employees who were not English-speaking, communicating and motivating safe workplace behavior was a real challenge. But with Safety Bingo in place, the business reported improvements in not only workplace injuries and accidents, but also a boost in employee productivity, morale and attendance. After just 18 months of Safety Bingo, the company's Worker's Compensation expense went from more than $140,000 to just $721.
The Playing Board
Safety Bingo comes with a full-color, 18-inch-by-24-inch playing board to be displayed where it's visible to all employees. The board displays the game's start date, the date of the company's last accident, the "daily numbers" which have been drawn, the "bonus number," and the prize that the winner receives at the end of the game.
The Playing Cards
The playing cards for Safety Bingo are similar to traditional bingo cards, except that instead of spelling "B-I-N-G-O" across the top, the top letters spell "S-A-F-E-T-Y." Underneath each letter are five random numbers which may be drawn from the Safety Bingo pool of numbers. At the start of each game, every employee receives his own playing card.
Daily Numbers
Each day, a new "daily number" is drawn from the pool and added to the playing board for all of the employees to see and note on their playing cards.
Winning the Game
As soon as an employee has completed a row of five numbers on her playing card, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally, she returns her playing card and wins the prize. Prizes could be cash awards, paid days off, or other workplace perks. The next day, new cards are issued to the employees, and the game begins again, this time with a larger prize.
Workplace Injuries
If a workplace injury occurs, the game ends immediately, all current playing cards are voided, and the playing board is wiped completely clean. The game resumes the next day with a brand-new playing board, new playing cards, and the game prize returned to its lowest level. As a result of this pattern, employees are progressively motivated by bigger and bigger awards to be more aware of workplace hazards and to prevent workplace accidents.
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