Engagement is a crucial element for success in safety, quality and performance. Studies show that engaged workers are more likely to stay at an organization in the long term and are less prone to chronic human factors like burnout. From a safety perspective, engagement helps workers keep their eyes and mind on task and helps them avoid hidden human factors like complacency. But knowing the benefits of engagement and making it happen in your workplace are two separate things.

Thankfully, safety engagement is something that frontline leaders can build every day through a simple practice of asking open questions that cannot be answered with a one-word response. By asking questions that start with the words “what,” “how,” and “why,” you invite folks to share their experiences, and that can be powerful in two key ways. First, it gives you insight into the culture of your organization, otherwise known as “how things are done around here.” That can be an invaluable tool for a safety leader looking to protect their people. Second, it demands self-reflection from the person answering the question, and that is a key ingredient in the recipe for engagement.

So if you want to boost engagement, asking the right questions is a great place to start. And here’s the best part: you can keep asking the same things to achieve this effect, as long as you choose your words carefully. Here are three open questions you can add to your conversational toolbox that can help build engagement with every worker interaction.

Question 1: Why do you do it that way?

With repetitive tasks, it can often be too easy to go through the motions without understanding why certain actions are done in specific ways. That includes by-the-book instructions as well as shortcuts. Being able to explain why something is done the way it’s done is crucial for ensuring engagement because it helps connect the actions performed in the present moment to the outcomes they produce in the future. In other words: knowing why you do something helps you better understand what it is you’re doing.

Putting on additional PPE before operating a specialized piece of machinery might seem like an unnecessary precaution, especially during repetitive and familiar work, but being able to articulate the safety reasons behind it is a surefire way to make the extra step stick. Meanwhile, some shortcuts are taken because of an outside pressure, and asking why someone skips a step in a process can be a great way to identify hidden challenges that increase risk for workers.

Of course, it’s very important to avoid sounding accusatory when asking someone why they are doing something. People don’t like to feel judged or condescended to, and if they sense they’re being disrespected or distrusted, then they might check out, which is the opposite of our engagement goal. That’s why this question is best asked when a worker is already walking you through a process.  When it comes to engagement, remember that the point of asking questions is to hear from workers, not to discipline them, so always be clear that you’re interested in understanding their process.

Question 2: How could this be better or worse?

Asking workers how a process can be better is a great way to learn their priorities and stressors. It is also a great way to show them you care about their opinion, especially if you can use their input to implement a change that makes their work easier or safer. Small improvements to a worker’s day-to-day tasks can go a long way in boosting morale, and might even directly improve safety if you can make their work less frustrating or more ergonomically feasible.

And when it comes to the flipside of this question, asking how a near miss or a minor accident could have been worse, is a real eye-opener. This is especially true when sharing safety stories, as it helps illustrate the high stakes of safety in a personal way. Next time you tell your own safety story, ask the listener how they think the outcome could have been worse—it’s a great way to help them remember the lesson you’re trying to impart.

Question 3: What do you have planned after work?

Taking an interest in employees’ lives outside of work is an effective way to demonstrate personal commitment to them while also learning about what motivates them to perform well and be safe. After all, everyone cares about something, and that means they work for different reasons. Some folks have long-term aspirations of professional growth and leadership. Others work their job to support their family or their lifestyle, and are happy to just put in their time. Being attentive to what matters to them is a great method for learning about the types of people you’re working with, and it’s an effective way to show them that you care about them as people.

Getting to know your employees can also help you talk about safety outside the workplace. And it doesn’t have to stop there. Asking the previous two questions in the list—why they do something and how a situation could be better or worse—about a worker’s extracurricular activities can get them thinking about safety when they’re off the clock, helping to expand engagement into a 24/7 context.

Responses to these open questions change frequently, so you can continue to ask the three listed here day in and day out, getting a new answer every time. It will build relationships and communication lines, arm you with crucial safety information, and most importantly, create a habitual culture of engagement. Repetition is the best way to build a habit, after all, and when you get workers regularly answering engaging questions, they may start to naturally think about the what, how and why of their everyday actions without being asked.