Workers at General Ribbon Corporation have been playing bingo every day for four years now. Each day the typewriter ribbon, toner and inkjet plant in Chatsworth, Calif., goes without an accident, managers throw two dollars into the bingo jackpot. Work teams that go six months without an accident reap extra rewards, as do individuals who work three years injury-free. If an injury occurs, the jackpot is wiped out. But if everyone stays safe, a winner can take home as much as $450.
For the price of a stack of bingo cards, markers and numbers and the jackpot outlay -about $100,000 a year for nine separate games played on three shifts among 400 workers- General Ribbon has cut its accident rate nearly 90 percent, and shaved about a half-million dollars off annual workers’ compensation premiums since 1992, according to Safety Coordinator Matt Carman.