Motivating Auto Safety Belt Wearing in Industrial Settings:

Abstract

Employees at an industrial plant (n = 141) participated in 40-minute safety belt "awareness sessions," which for some groups included opportunities to sign buckle up pledge cards. The duration of the pledge period was one week, one month, or three months for different groups of approximately 35 employees each. The awareness sessions, alone or with pledge cards, yielded a three-fold increase in safety belt use (from approximately 20% to 60%), which was sustained over the 13 weeks of post-session observation. While most employees signed pledge cards regardless of the pledge duration, pledging did not produce greater increases in safetey belt use than the awareness sessions without pledge cards. Further, pledge duration had no differential effect on likelihood of signing, or subsequent compliance. The usual white/blue-collar difference was found, with white-collar employees showing higher rates of safety belt use throughout the study. The results suggest strongly that an "intrinsic control" strategy of raising awareness and increasing personal commitment to buckle up can substantially increase safety belt use. The application of this approach as a cost-effective component of an overall program to increase safety belt use is discussed.