Posted on Wed, Oct 06, 2010
Getting Safety Training Messages to stick can be Tricky. This New Report reveals the Key Factors behind Successful Workplace Safety Communication and how to implement them.
Melbourne, Australia (7 October, 2010) – Digicast Productions, a safety and induction training video production house, today released a new white paper “Seven Communication Tips for Workplace Safety Messages”.
Effective communication is vital to get staff and contractors aligned and working towards a positive safety culture. Yet, just providing training to work safely is not always enough. How we communicate about safety influences whether or not people will accept or reject our safety messages.
The main objective of any safety communication program is to change behaviour. But how does a safety, training or human resources professional change attitudes towards safety?
Find out how in this exclusive white paper, which also looks at:
- The secret to developing highly successful safety communications programs
- How to develop a workplace safety message strategy
- Seven tips to improve both your written and verbal safety communication
- How the Gypsum Board Manufacturer’s of Australasia (GBMA) promoted manual handling techniques to 3,000 workers across Australia and New Zealand.
For a complete copy of the whitepaper, visit http://info.digicast.com.au/workplace-safety-messages/
About Digicast Productions
Established in 1991, Digicast is an Australian vendor of customised safety and induction training videos. Thousands of people each year worldwide are trained with Digicast training videos. For more information, visit Digicast at www.digicast.com.au or The Workplace Improver blog for training tips, www.digicast.com.au/blog.
Contact Marie-Claire Ross
Digicast Productions
+ 61 3 9696-4400
mc@digicast.com.au
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Posted on Sun, Oct 03, 2010
Effective communication is vital to get staff and contractors aligned and working towards a positive safety culture.
Yet, just providing training to work safely is not always enough. How we communicate about safety influences whether or not people will accept or reject our safety messages.
A lot of companies produce training about a particular safety topic or communicate awareness with lacklustre results.
We have found that the following issues often let safety communication down:
- Infrequent safety message reminders - Multiple message placements are the key to getting staff to remember new safety messages. Try and get workers to engage in your safety messages in different formats (such as watching it, hearing it and reading it). People learn in a variety of ways, so an effective safety campaign needs to use a variety of communication methods. Messages need to be distributed in multiple ways and multiple times. Workers will need six or more separate exposures to your message to remember. Use video, newsletters, posters, meetings, events and training sessions. The more the better.
- Messages aren't credible - Senior management play an integral leadership role in establishing the culture of a company including safety. Effective safety leadership needs to be led and driven from the top. Staff look at senior leaders actions to see whether new safety messages are being taken seriously. Are your senior leaders really supporting the new messages or are they just playing lip service?
- Messages aren't consistent - Good safety communication campaigns have alignment with all departments who are all working towards the same outcome. This means working with all departments before you launch your safety messages and ensure that they will work with you and not against you. A common example is that the production manager will push for speed, while the safety manager will tell people to work safely and cautiously.
- Overuse of negative language - When writing your safety messages, it is important that positive language is used that focuses on the behaviour you want and not the behaviour you want to avoid. It also needs to communicate the issue in friendly language rather than rule-based or blame-centric writing. You will get little traction of your message if you blame workers for the current state of affairs.
- Lack of consequences - It is important to introduce the new safety initiative by first explaining to everyone what the current problem is and the issues it is causing. Then, managers need to explain the new rules of the game and the expectations. It is also really important to let workers know of the consequences of not following the new guidelines. This means letting staff really understand that poor safety behaviour not only puts themselves at risk, but the safety of other workers. Let them know the effect this will have on their personal life and their family.
Of course, there are a lot more mistakes, but these are the main ones.
What can you do to improve your safety communication?
Posted on Sun, Sep 19, 2010
When it comes to training staff on safety or procedures, one of the biggest problems many of our clients talk about is the difficulty of training staff consistently across numerous sites.
Often, staff are taught different information from one site to the next. And when you have hundreds or thousands of staff, this can be problematic.
It often results in different levels of productivity and a wild variation in safety records across the board.
Unless companies have a standardized approach to their training, variations in the training message will create a workforce that is not aligned and working together to reach the same goals.
Buddies - Friends or Foe?
One area where this can be quite problematic is the buddy system form of training.
According to Wikipedia, the buddy system is a procedure in which two people, the buddies, operate together as a single unit so that they are able to monitor and help each other. In training or the induction of newcomers to an organization, the less experienced buddy learns more quickly from close and frequent contact with the experienced buddy than when operating alone.
The buddy system is a good system that research has found provides optimal induction training. However, the buddy system is only as good as the buddy doing the training. What can sometimes happen is that companies assume that workers will train new staff the right way. But what can happen if staff have had inconsistent training, is that they perpetuate more inconsistent training. So new staff end up being taught different processes and safety information, which over time, can result in disastrous consequences.
The solution is to provide everyone with consistent training and the same stardardized messages. Only then does the buddy system work effectively. In fact, it will work extremely well and further reinforce messages and understanding.
Systemizing your Messages
The key to getting your workforce all understanding your safety and training messages in unison is the simple reinforcement of facts. Repeatability and standardization of message are key.
And one proven way is to develop training videos for your company. Even better if you can create other communication types that convey your core messages that hit all of the senses (see it, touch it, hear it etc). Only then will you get message standardization. And as a training video automates the messaging, it is a cost effective way to get consistent message understood by your workers no matter where they are located.
Helping Senior Leaders Lead
One further benefit is that when the CEO needs to visit different sites across the country, he or she will do a far better job communicating to all the workers who are all aware of the company stance on safety, the company vision and goals. Rather than spend time writing different speeches to cater for the differing levels of safety awareness, the CEO can go and out communicate and engage knowing that everyone is on the same page.
Posted on Sun, Sep 12, 2010
Research studies tell us that 70% of workplace mistakes are a result of poor communication.
Communication failures can be costly. It can cause loss of business, accidents, frustration, hostility, high employee turnover, low productivity and much more.
According to Kris Cole, who wrote the book Crystal Clear Communication, there are quite a range of communication difficulties. These being:
- Not explaining goals or priorities properly
- Not listening
- Not understanding fully and failing to ask questions
- Mind made up, preconceived ideas
- Not understanding others' needs
- Not thinking it through clearly, jumping to conclusions
- Losing patience, allowing discussion to become heated
- Short of time
- Bad mood
- Failure to explore alternatives
But it's not just personal communication that can go awry. Business communication will also fail to miss the mark, if those responsible for corporate communication have the same communication difficulties as mentioned above. That's why it is so important when companies commence a training video that all of those involved in the process are on the same page. Otherwise, the training video process can be drawn out and in danger of missing the mark.
Where in your daily life can you change your communication style to ensure mistakes get reduced? And for company communication, how can you make sure it is unified with all those responsible aligned with the same agenda?
Posted on Sun, Sep 05, 2010
It might seem like a hardened, senior management business view, but there is evidence that moving from measuring incident rates to the cost of safety in dollar terms, can actually improve safety.
In his article, Mind Shifting into Safety Excellence, Dr Larry L. Hansen from L2H, talks about the need for companies to change how they measure safety performance.
As Dr Hansen succinctly puts it, “What does your CEO and CFO value most…reduction in rates? Or reduction in costs?" Obviously, nearly everyone would choose costs. Yet, so many companies emphasize incident rates as the driving metric of safety performance.
In a Safety & Health magazine readership poll a resounding 86.3% percent of respondents believed that occupational injuries in the US are under-reported.
“The biggest impediment to safety excellence is the use of incident rates as the driving measure of performance.” – Dan Zahlis
While at a more local level, Dr Yossi Berger from the Australian Worker’s Union (AWU) has stated in a recent NSCA interview that reductions in injuries do not provide the correct information about the quality of health and safety standards nor about daily risks experienced by workers at their tasks.
Dan Zahlis, Founder of the Active Agenda project used to be the Regional Risk Manager for The Häagen-Dazs Company.
His most immediate challenge was to reduce high Workers Compensation costs at the California facility. What he found was that head office imposed "incident rate measurements‟ which had frustrated supervisors (because they were accountable for something over which they had little control), had created employee cynicism, (because workers knew that numbers were suspect), and had driven real problems and near-miss events underground, (until they ultimately surfaced as costly injuries). Dan removed the incident rate measurement and implemented what he called the "ultimate safety metric‟ - "Average Loss Cost‟ -calculated by the following formula:
Average Loss Cost = Total COST of all INCIDENTS/Total NUMBER of all INCIDENTS
(And by INCIDENTS, Dan meant ALL - Near Misses, First Aid, Medical Only, Restricted Duty, and Disabling)
Dan's goal was to build trust and remove cynicism by removing the negative consequences associated with reporting, which in turn would expose real problems and allow real safety progress to occur.
The genius of this metric is that the only two ways it can be improved is by increasing the number of incidents reported (exposing hidden problems), or by reducing total costs (forcing better management of employee claims).
At the end of the first year, the plant reported 33% more claims, BUT produced a 30% reduction in claim costs. And, of course he lost his job for bucking corporate policy. He then went on to a Dole Foods Division where he applied the same approach and reduced loss costs from $385,000 to $30,000 in the first year.
So what do you think? Leave a comment below about your company incident rates and your experiences.
Posted on Sun, Aug 29, 2010
As mentioned in " How to Develop a Workplace Safety Messages Campaign" Part 1, marketing is the key to getting your safety messages heard and understood.
But how does the ordinary safety professional instigate a marketing campaign to educate staff about safety initiatives?
Let's do some Marketing 101 lessons, to look at the steps you need to undertake to deliver your marketing (oops, safety) strategy.
- Who is your audience? You need to work out who your target audience is and their demographics. Are they mainly males 35 - 55 years? Or a combination of both males and females, but aged 15 - 25 years? By working out exactly who your audience is, you can better work out the types of communication they are more likely to watch, read and hear.
- What are your objectives? What are you trying to achieve? How can you measure the success of the communication program? What data can you measure both before and after the launch of the new safety campaign?
- What is your message? What is it that you want to say? If it is to raise awareness about safe forklift driving, why do you need to let people know about this. Ensure that you let people know what the safety initiative is and why it is important. How can you ensure all departments have the same consistent message?
- What communication methods can you use? Ideally, use multiple types of communication and deliver it multiple times. Put together a strategy as to how you can communicate the same safety messages daily, weekly or monthly.
Let's take a look at an example.
Gypsum Board Manufacturers of Australasia (GBMA) needed a manual handling training program to train 3,000 workers from five different companies on how to handle plasterboard safely. In the plasterboard industry, manual handling injuries are the most common of injuries.
The training program was treated as a marketing exercise. An iconic plasterboard man was designed who featured on all of the communication. A slogan was also created "Move it - The GBMA Way". Both the iconic man and the slogan were a way of reminding workers on a daily basis about the training they had received. Training centred around a 20 minute training video that also included medical animations to show how the back works. A trainer's manual, PowerPoint Slides and employee handbook were used for training. The employee handbook was A6 size to encourage workers to keep in pockets or lockers for easy reference. Posters were also designed with the same theme as a daily reminder.
"The training material components were key in engaging roles such as Team Leaders to deliver the training to their teams effectively. One of the keys to getting engagement with the safety messages on a daily basis has been the handbooks and posters to prompt training information.". Gerard Crosswell, GIB NZ
Effective safety communication needs to be very specific to your organisation and tailored to your workplace demographics and culture.
It must integrate with a company’s day to day activities and be of value to the workers watching it. Slick communication materials are not the answer.
Care needs to be taken so that communication materials are credible and easy to understand.
But more importantly, any safety communication needs to provide daily reminders to staff while they work, for the best results.
How can you best communicate your new safety initiatives?
Posted on Wed, Aug 25, 2010
It’s smart for companies to be worried about staff training videos and how to tackle them correctly. There are so many choices. Quite frequently, training videos are produced that just don’t get used. Now, working out what components to include in your training video just got easier.
Melbourne, Australia (August 26, 2010) – Digicast Productions, a training video production house, today released the “Best Practice Guide: How to Produce Staff Training Videos that get Results”. Developing the right training video for your company isn't easy. This guide is a useful resource for anyone involved in the challenging and complex task of producing a company training video that performs.
In this 4 page guide, discover:
- The key components required for the best induction training program
- The causes of a poor performing training video
- Issues to avoid during the production of a training video
This guide is suitable for anyone wishing to produce a company training video that will be used for many years. It is a companion guide for the Training Video Buyer's Kit.
For a complete copy of the kit, visit http://info.digicast.com.au/best-practice-guide-to-training-videos
About Digicast Productions
Established in 1991, Digicast is an Australian vendor of customised safety and induction training videos. Thousands of people each year worldwide are trained with Digicast training videos. For more information, visit Digicast at www.digicast.com.au or The Workplace Improver blog for training tips.
Contact Marie-Claire Ross
Digicast Productions
+ 61 3 9696-4400
mc@digicast.com.au
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Posted on Sun, Aug 22, 2010
The main objective of any safety communication is to change behaviour.
But how does a safety or human resources professional change attitudes towards safety or improve the way people undertake procedures?
How can the safety manager deliver a message that motivates employees, supervisors and administrators to think and act safely?
Advertise your message
The secret - marketing. You need to advertise your messages.
According to Wikipedia, advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience to purchase or take some action upon products, ideals, or services. Advertising can change the values, attitudes, and actions of those who see or hear the message.
Think television commercials. Advertising is a billion dollar industry focused on changing consumers' habits and beliefs. And while it is true that television might not be as effective as it used to be, this is only because fewer people are watching it now. Nevertheless, Government organisations like WorkSafe and VicRoads have used television commercials to successfully change our behaviours and attitudes towards workplace safety and road safety respectively.
Advertising informs and reinforces the need for safe practices. But advertisers know that you just can't say your product is the best. Likewise with safety, you can't say your company believes in safety and leave it at that.
Cutting through the Clutter
Through the course of a day, people are constantly bombarded with marketing messages. Estimates vary from around 150 - 5,000 messages per day (personally, I believe it is realistically around 1,000).
Successful ad campaigns have to compete with many other goods and service to grab the attention of people. In advertising speak, it's important to "cut through the clutter" and get what is known as "top of mind" awareness. If you think soft drink and your first thought is Coca Cola, then Coca Cola is top of mind for you when it comes to soft drink.
Your safety messages also need to cut through the clutter and be top of mind. As a safety professional, your communication messages compete with messages from the production manager pushing for better productivity and co-workers fooling around. And then there are messages from home that you have to compete with such as family issues, money problems, Facebook and other advertising .
In order to market safety messages, it's time that safety professionals started to think like marketers. And this might be hard, as let's face it, they are a strange group to more linear thinkers like engineers. However, let's put on our marketing caps and find out how they try to get into our brain.
Key advertising tactics to consider for marketing safety are:
- Consistent, clear messaging (includes branding) – Always promote the same standarized safety message and ensure that all departments are aligned with the message and do not send out conflicting information (eg: safety officer tells people to work safely and cautiously, but production manager pushes for speed).
- Consequences of poor safety - One of they key messages is to get employees really understand that poor safety behaviour puts their health and safety at risk, but also other employees, contractors and customers. Let them know what effect this will have on the personal life and how it will effect their family.
- Multiple message placement - This means you have a consistent safety message or theme and you repeat it in multiple places. It is like the glue that holds these tactics together and is essential in successful advertising. In advertising campaigns, it is believed that people need to be exposed to a television ad six times before they will absorb the message. This is why frequency of message equals success in the advertising campaign.
Most safety training programs fall short when it comes to frequency of message. Yet, there are many simple and cost effective ways to do this.
By getting workers to engage in your safety message in different ways (watching it, hearing it, reading it), supervisors can better ensure that more workers receive it. Different communication methods include a training video that is supplemented with matching posters, email newsletter campaigns, key rings, employee handbooks and toolbox talks.
But how do you develop workplace safety communication? Read How to Develop a Workplace Safety Messages Campaign (Part 2)
