Workplace Communicator Blog

Four types of visuals to use in your Safety Communication

In a recent online discussion with safety professionals from around the world, we discussed what types of visuals they use during their safety presentation training.

These visuals fell into a few different categories:

1. Shock photos (that often include death and lots of blood, to 'scare' workers into being safe),
2. Incorrect safety photos (that showed staff doing the wrong things),
3. Correct safety procedure photos (that show the right behaviour), and
4. Happy families and people (to show that being safe leads to a happy future).

Any of these types of photos can work.  The only exception was that the group felt that showing incorrect safety procedures can be a sensitive issue in companies and was not recommended.

The reasons why these types of photos work can be found in the book  Switch, by Chip and Dan Heath.   It was stated that when people make choices they rely on two basic models - consequences and identity.

Should I or Shouldn't I?

The consequences model is well known among economic students.

It assumes that when we have a decision to make, we weigh the costs and benefits of our options and make the choice that increases our satisfaction.  It's a very rational and analytical approach.  It's all about choosing the option that gives us the best value.

This is when we use photos that "shock" the person into safety by showing the result of an accident that could happen to them.  It tries to appeal to their self-interest.  Or we show the right way of doing a procedure.

With the identity model, however, people make decisions based on what they believe the person who they are would make the decision.  They ask themselves "what would someone like me do in this kind of situation?"

With identity, this is getting people to think about a decision in terms of how it effects them through their group association. So it’s getting people to make decisions about about person they aspire to be (or who they already believe they are and how that person would make the decision (group affiliation includes race, religion, gender, class, occupation and countless other groups).  For example: scientists would make decisions on how a scientist is meant to make decisions by gathering lots of facts and making an objective decision). This is when you show people what they want to be (ie: safe and happy families) according to which group they believe they belong to.

Encouraging group identity is important for any company.  It's all about your culture and getting your staff to align with your core values.  Consider fostering a group identity that encourages looking after your mates, being a safe worker or doing things in a way that only special people can that work for your company (eg: IBMers have their own name and use their core values when making decisions).  Then, you can use visuals that match group identity.

Which type of visuals do you like to use in your safety communication?

Undercover CEO - An Interview with Neil Coulson, CEO Jayco Corporation about Safety Speeches

Continuing the theme on workplace safety speeches, in this post, we interviewed Neil Coulson from Jayco who has been the CEO for three years.  Jayco is the leading manufacturer of recreational vehicles in Australia with 850 employees.

Recently, Neil Coulson went "undercover" for The Skeleton Project and just like from an episode of the Undercover Boss, but with a safety bent, he visited his manufacturing plant in disguise posing as a safety researcher.

Despite his unbelievable disguise (can anyone really get away with a strange looking wig and a crooked fake moustache?), his workers were undeniably passionate about discussing manual handling improvements on site.

1. As a participant in The Skeleton Project, how has it changed how you prioritize workplace safety when planning your business goals?

Neil: It reinforced the value of our earlier investment in safety through witnessing the improvements achieved and the value to employees.  This confirms the need to have safety as a business goal.  Our experience has shown that improving safety often improves efficiency, so it is good business

2. You mentioned that communication is the number one priority in improving safety. Since being involved with The Skeleton Project has it changed how you deliver a workplace safety speech?

Neil: Not really, it has primarily confirmed the importance of setting safety as our company’s number one priority in all our communications with employees.  It is also important to measure your performance and communicate this and other activities around safety so you heighten awareness and ownership for safety across the site.

3. From your experience with The Skeleton Project, what you would you say is the most important information to convey during a safety speech?

Neil: You must not only communicate your company’s priority on safety but then back it up with swift action in dealing with possible improvements as actions speak louder than words.

4. When giving a safety speech, what have you found that works?  What doesn’t?

Neil: Being clear about what we are trying to achieve and why this allows all Management and employees to embrace the spirit and intent of the goal and focus their involvement with an appropriate level of passion.  Also, being clear that we will act where improvements are required, then acting on the issues, gives all parties confirmation the company is serious about delivering an improved outcome in safety terms.

Neil's approach to safety speech writing ensures that as the CEO, 'he walks the talk'.  Workers look to senior leaders to see evidence that safety is important.  One way they do this is look to see if the CEO is backing up their 'talk' with action.  Staff want to feel safe in the workplace, so by Neil following that up his speeches with action, he will ensure a high performing safety culture at Jayco.

Let's hope he doesn't wear his wig and moustache for his next speech....

10 Ways to improve your Workplace Safety Communication

Everything we do is communication.  And it is no wonder that research studies point to 70% of workplace mistakes being caused by poor communication.

How we start our message often determines the result.

According to Crystal Clear Communication, by Kris Cole, people quickly determine the meaning of our message and whether they will be receptive at the beginning.  We only have a short time to get our messages across:

• 2 minutes when we are face to face
• 30 seconds on the telephone
• 10 - 15 seconds by voice mail.

So the more important the message, the bigger the need to plan what you are going to say.

Here are 10 ways to grab engagement with workers when talking about a new or existing safety initiative during your next toolbox talk, safety initiative launch or other safety meeting.

1. Start with explaining the current safety status.  This can best be shown with a visual. In 1994, when the new CEO of IBM, Lou Gerstner was brought in to fix a troubled IBM, he put two charts on the wall to show how the market share had dramatically fallen.  Until that point in time, IBM staff refused to believe IBM was in trouble (they lost $8 billion that year).  A picture tells a thousand words.  IBM-ers quickly saw the message.
2. Customise your safety information.  If your message involves talking at various sites.  Talk about their individual safety records, not about the company as a whole
3. Explain the benefits of the safety initiative Talk about the thinking behind it and how it will effect staff, their family and the company.  For example, you can let people know how much you expect a new training program will contribute to a reduction in injuries and the consequences of that.
4. Get people involved with your message.  If you are talking to a group of people, get people actively  involved.  Ask them questions.  Get them to do a demonstration of how they are lifting with an expert there to point out how they can improve and what potential damage they could be doing to their bodies.  Another idea is to ask workers where they believe the new safety posters can be best placed.  What other strategies can you think of to get people to help with disseminating your message?
5. Repeat your message via different communication methods over a period of time. Use posters, video content, email newsletters, and letters from the GM.  Put together a schedule of communication events that constantly drip-feeds your message.
6. Tell stories. The right brain prefers story.  It also provides an emotional connection to information that people will remember.  What real-life workplace stories can you use that show the importance of safety?
7. Reward in public, condemn in private. Recognise high performing safety leaders or change leaders publicly.  This will encourage others to work more safely.  For those that are not doing the right thing, this needs to be done privately.
8. Use positive language. Avoid words like 'don't' and can't.  Focus on the behaviour you want, rather than talking about what you don't want.
9. Expectation Clarity. Let everyone know what it is expected of them and how you will be measuring it.  Clearly set goals and targets.
10. Follow up with Action. While workers might accept your words, they will want to see action that you believe what you say.  Keep communicating with them and checking on their progress.  Remember, the old adage "Actions speak louder than words".

What else would you add to this list?

Delivering the CEO Safety Message - An Interview with Stuart Jacquet, Managing Director, Lafarge

In this post, I interviewed Stuart Jacquet the Managing Director of Lafarge Plasterboard Australia about his experience with writing and delivering safety speeches.

Lafarge currently operates two plasterboard production facilities (Matraville in NSW and Altona in Vic) and has over 220 employees in Australia.

1. In your experience, what you would you say is the most important information to convey during a safety speech?

Stuart: The most important, and also the most difficult, sentiment to convey to your personnel when giving a speech on safety, is the degree of personal commitment that you have towards safety. Credibility as a leader on this topic is clearly a prerequisite for giving a good safety speech. It is not easy to convince people that you value excellence in safety performance ahead of financial, sales or or even manufacturing performance. And so when speaking about safety, it only makes sense that you speak about what safety means to you, what it looks like to you and what you are doing about it at a very personal level and be clear on how you measure the performance.

Safety performance improves when you are actively working on it.  Everyone in an organisation has to practise identifying hazards, reporting on them and working together to eliminate them. Everyone has to practise good safety behaviour, complying with rules, watching others, helping identify poor behaviour and doing something about changing it.

As a leader, there has to be personal conviction to be deeply involved in the activities that you speak about. I like to speak about safety every time I address teams within the organisation.  Even when I provide information on the performance of the business overall, I will also speak about how we are progressing with our safety program. This means highlighting recent events, successes and failures, to make the subject come alive. I will also speak about how the particular team is performing within the program.

A vital part of a safety speech is to acknowledge the work that is done by people in the organisation as they work on safety. Recognition programs are an important part of the safety program as it helps to maintain the engagement of employees.

2. When giving a safety speech, what have you found that works?  What doesn’t?

Stuart: Like any speech, it is important to plan what you will say. Keep it simple and don't try to cover too much .  This helps to ensure that the messages are clear. What is most important with safety, as it is with many other topics, is that the message has to be consistent over time. Set some goals for the year, speak about what is to be done to achieve the goals and then you have a blue print for communication for the rest of the year. I would say that speaking about what has been achieved and recognising people for the achievement is often more powerful than speaking about what will be done in the future.

"Employees accept statistics regarding sales, price, quality and profit, but when it comes to safety no one wants to feel like a being a statistic. Safety should be a very personal matter". Stuart Jacquet

What does not work so well is speaking about the need  to improve safety performance, the need to achieve a corporate vision, or the need to change the culture in general terms and having no practical actions that can be followed, no timetable and no performance indicators. Of course, you have to speak about the lagging indicators such as the number of Lost time injuries, Medical Treatment and First Aid Treatment incidents and Near Misses.  But it is important to interpret results, and relate them to the safety program initiatives otherwise, there is a risk of conveying the wrong message to individuals. Employees accept statistics regarding sales, price, quality and profit but when it comes to safety no one wants to feel like a being a statistic. Safety should be a very personal matter.

3. How would you describe your safety presentation style?

Stuart: I like to have an open style on safety, not professing to be an expert, but strongly encouraging people to engage on taking personal responsibility for their actions and to help others. One of the safety challenges we have today is to move organisations from good safety performance to excellent performance. Of course, much can be done to improve the working environment, but that is only half the story.  Unless we can connect at a personal level with every individual to improve personal behaviour, then we cannot expect to achieve excellence in safety.

This is not an easy job to move people who have never been injured at the workplace and feel quite safe. It is this big population of employees we have to connect with, lift their commitment and improve their safety behaviours. I communicate very regularly both in a formal way, but just as often informally. One discipline that I do work hard on is to stay on the message, as this just helps to get things done and not over complicate matters.  Stick to the facts and show the same performance measures every time for better or for worse.

Of course, the leaders role in safety management goes far beyond the safety speech.  It is the follow up that really moves a safety culture. Working with teams on safety projects, repeating the safety messages. Chairing the organisation safety committee, personally following up on ever safety incident with local safety teams and quite frankly, being visible in the organisation working on the topic. Organisations respond to what they see the leader doing. If you want results on safety then you have to spend time on it.

Thanks to Stuart for his honest feedback on his safety speech style.

Based on social psychology research, when a leader publicly espouses a particular view, they become much more likely to behave consistently with that point of view even if they did not previously feel that way.  It is interesting that Stuart feels the need to let people know of his personal conviction for safety and uses lots of different methods to communicate.   This includes a constant reference to safety in both informal and formal meetings and his commitment to safety in action, not just words.  Together,  all of these methods will be communicating to his staff his sincerity on safety and thereby, making his staff believe that safety is important to Lafarge.

Announcing Seven Communication Tips for Workplace Safety Managers Seminar at Safety in Action 2011

Getting Safety Training Messages to stick can be Tricky.  Find out Seven Key Factors behind Successful Workplace Communication and how to implement them.

Melbourne, Australia (9 March, 2011) – Digicast Productions, a safety and induction training video package production house, today announced that their popular seminar “Seven communication tips for workplace safety managers” will be available to all trade show visitors of Safety in Action in Melbourne during the 5 – 7 April 2011.

In this short, free 30 minute seminar, participants will learn:

• The most important components to include in induction training

• Seven communication tips for success

• How to be the industry leader in workplace communication.

Located at the Demonstration Stage seminar session times are:

• Tuesday 5 April– 2pm

• Wednesday 6 April– 1pm

• Thursday 7 April– 1pm

"Good clear points.  Good research data. Good examples". Alison Hunt-Sturman, Faculty OHSE Manager, University of Melbourne

All participants will receive a free copy of the popular white paper “Seven Communication Tips for Workplace Safety Messages”.

For a complete copy of the whitepaper, visit http://info.digicast.com.au/workplace-safety-messages/

"Easy to understand and listen to". Cameron Cranstoun, HSE Manager, The Bayside Group

Digicast Productions will present the Seven Communication Tips seminar at Safety In Action, which runs from April 5 to 7 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. For more information, visit www.safetyinaction.net.au, email safetyvisitor@aec.net.au or phone Australian Exhibitions & Conferences Pty Ltd on 03 9654 7773.

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.  Digicast will also be located at stand S14.

Contact Marie-Claire Ross

Digicast Productions

+ 61 3 9696-4400

mc@digicast.com.au

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How to write the CEO Safety Speech

How the safety speech is written depends upon it's form of delivery (eg: written speech for the annual report, face to face presentation to staff or video presentation) and the audience. Ideally, the speech is tailored as much as possible to the particular group of workers as this will get more traction.

Another area is to consider is whether the speech is about a new safety program being introduced into the company or a speech that is talking about the current safety status.  Both of these types of speeches need to be approached differently.

Introducing a New Company Safety Initiative

In Blue Ocean Strategy, authors W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, believe that any new company initiative needs to be introduced to all levels of staff (not just senior management) by a three step process.

1. Engagement – Allow all workers to have input into the strategic decisions that affect them by asking for their feedback.  This shows respect for staff and their ideas.  It also can contribute to better strategic decisions.  Ideally, you are able to do this step before the new safety initiative speech is undertaken.
2. Explanation – Everyone who is involved is given a clear explanation of the thinking underlying the new decision.  This is to build trust in regard to management decisions.
3. Expectation clarity – Once the strategy is finalised, managers clearly state the new rules of the game.  Goals and targets are set. Expectations for staff are clearly communicated.

In other words, to introduce a new safety initiative, the speech needs to contain information about:

• the current safety performance and why it needs to be improved  (explanation)
• the benefits to staff, company and community (expectation clarity)
• any negatives (explanation)
• how the new safety initiative will be measured and what is expected from each staff member (expectation clarity).

The Current Safety Status Speech

Once a new safety initiative has been introduced, it is vital that the CEO or other senior company representative gives regular progress speeches to staff.

As Dick Brown was quoted as saying in Execution, written by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan: "The culture of a company is the behavious of it's leaders.  Leaders get the behaviour they exhibit and tolerate".

After all, staff won’t believe that the company backs its safety messages, until they see the proof of action.   So it's worthwhile that the CEO gives a regular progress report.

In fact, according to Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in Built to Last, social psychology research indicates that when a leader publicly espouses a particular view, they become much more likely to behave consistently with that point of view even if they did not previously feel that way.

So there are two real benefits obtained from the CEO talking about company safety to staff.  The first one is that staff will be more persuaded to change their safety behaviour after listening to the CEO and the second one is that the CEO will start to behave more in line with the new safety initiative and as staff are more likely to believe action rather than words, staff will start to alter their behavior as well.

When it comes to writing this speech, the following need to be included:

1. Make it relevant to your audience – In the speech, make reference to their safety record as it can differ by site.  If you do have more than one site, it can be beneficial to compare that site to the best performing site to encourage some healthy competition.

2. Site Visit -  Enable the  leadership team and employees the opportunity to discuss safety issues with the CEO. This is important to showing that the CEO really does care about their safety and is serious about change.

2. Recognise high performing safety leaders or change agents.   As well as congratulating each of these people in person, it is also important to mention these leaders in any safety talk.  This will shows that the CEO will reward those who work safely and it will also encourage others to work more safely.

3. Use stories. Where possible, include any examples of staff/sites who have improved safety.  Stories help provide an emotional connection and help people to remember.  They are particularly useful when you need to get people to remember data.

5. Make it simple. Keep the messages down to 3 -5, as brain studies show that this is the maximum amount of information people will remember.

Remember that staff want to feel safe in their own workplace.  They also look to the senior leader to see evidence that safety is important.  And while they might listen to your words, it really is action that they want to see.  So by undertaking individual site visits and checking on their progress will really show that the CEO means business when it comes to safety.

See how the experts do it:

Delivering the CEO Safety Speech - An Interview with Stuart Jaquet, Lafarge Plasterboard Australia

Story telling - an effective way to improve food safety training

According to a recent research study published by Dr Benjamin Chapman, Prof. Tanya MacLaurin and Dr Doug Powell, in the British Food Journal, food safety stories could play an important role in spreading awareness about food safety.

Research into food handler training has found that training programmes are inconsistent and rarely evaluated for efficacy, despite extensive investment.

The scientists found that food safety training tends to have generic prescriptive content with school-like delivery methods that  could be a barrier to application.

The purpose of the research was to develop a food safety communication tool by creating food safety infosheets, targeted specifically to foodservice food handlers using popular media stories to illustrate the consequences of poor food handling.

Food safety infosheets were designed to be disruptive, connect food handlers' actions and consequences, and generated discussion through a verbal narrative framework.

A Delphi-like exercise (n = 19 ) and a posting pilot (n = 8 ) were carried out to assess the appropriateness of the concept of food safety infosheets.

An intense participatory ethnographic study with an Ontario (Canada) restaurant and in-depth interviews with food service operators in Manhattan, Kansas, and Lansing, Michigan (n = 17) were conducted to gather qualitative data on the food service kitchen environment, including barriers to food safety practices, and the communication preferences of those who work in such kitchens.

The expert group, foodservice operators, and food handlers accepted food safety infosheets as an appropriate concept and valued storytelling as an effective communication strategy.  Learning in the kitchen environment was largely hands-on and visual, and time pressure dictated practices. It was often difficult to attract and keep the attention of food handlers.   Storytelling, celebrity and local outbreaks were of interest to the target audience.

Overall, this research provides a blueprint for the design and development of food safety training programs.  It goes without saying that high quality food safety training program need to incorporate local stories about food illness outbreaks to engage and convey the consequences of poor food handling practices.

How to Improve Manual Handling Training and Awareness

One in three injuries to Australian workers are caused by manual handling, with inexperienced staff at greater risk.

Back in 1986, the New Zealand Accident Compensation Corporation was faced with increasing back injuries and decided to launch a nationwide television campaign to promote good lifting and bending techniques among the general public.

The campaign consisted of a one minute television ad shown at peak viewing times that motivated people to bend their knees whenever they were going towards the floor to either lift or put down objects.  In addition, a 25 minute training video was produced called "The Bad Back Video".

The results of 1,000 randomly selected respondents were quite remarkable.

The survey findings were based on those who had seen one minute ad:

• Fifty-four percent of the respondents were aware that lifting, bending and strains were a major cause of back injury.
• While 88% of those who had seen the ad, said that they had modified they way they treated their backs, while 49% had changed their lifting behaviour.

Doctors, schools and industry all took some of the promotional materials and used them to train patients, students and workers.

There are some flaws to these research findings (eg: how did people lift a year later?, what percentage of people were aware of the major causes of back injury before the ads?)

But it does raise an interesting fact.

Video is a powerful way to inform and educate viewers on correct lifting techniques. To properly train manual handling techniques, video modules are required.

For those of you who have tried to increase awareness of manual handling tasks using photos, you know that the the learning task is next to useless.  By using video for learning, you will greatly improve your training outcomes.

If you want to see how a manual handling training program was successfully implemented across Australia and New Zealand to train 3,000 plasterboard workers, read this manual handling case study.

This information was taken from "Back injury prevention - Awareness versus Performance" by Leornard Ring , Professional Safety, July 1989

Announcing New White Paper: Seven Communication Tips for Workplace Safety Messages

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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Do you make these mistakes in your workplace safety communications?

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:

1. 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.
2. 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?
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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?