If you’re a business owner, you probably spent a good deal of time crafting a safety policy for your employees. The precautions they take will be custom to your business, you can’t expect every new employee to be familiar with them. Your employees might operate heavy machinery, spend extended times out in the sun, or even typing in a cubicle. All businesses should make available specific PPE and encourage employees to follow safety protocols.
The thing is, asking them to read the safety protocols won’t be enough, you need to make a stronger impression than that. Especially, for new employees that already need to understand their duties and the company ways. A safety manual might get overshadowed by everything else. In the other hand, if you show them a safety video, the information will be more likely to stick with them. In this article, we’ll go over ways you can use content to make sure your safety policy gets the attention it requires.
Why should you need content?
Come on, people want to be safe, nobody wants to get in an accident. That might be true, but what about if they don’t know the dangers? Use the wrong equipment? If they forget what they read in the manual, it won’t matter how much they enjoy their safety. Sean Sullivan said attention spams are becoming more selective. It’s important that the way you distribute your message reflects the message’s importance.
The natural way to give your safety policy the attention it deserves is developing attention-grabbing content to support it. The right content will leverage combined stimuli and repeated exposure to make sure your employees remember their safety training. Let’s go over the most important kinds of content you can develop.
Safety Video
First on the list is a safety video that will combine visual and audio stimuli to make a strong impression. Your video should be comprehensive, displaying the safety measures your employees should follow. It should also show other places where your employees can find this information, such as pamphlets or signs. However, it can’t be too long, you need to be punctual and concise with the explanations. Don’t worry, you’ll go over the details in other pieces of content. The video also needs to be engaging. Learn how to make an unforgettable safety video here.
Another great way to leverage video content for your safety policy is safety news videos. These are meant to display the safety stats achieved last quarter, usually dictated by the HSR Director. This is a great way to show long-lasting commitment to safety, making your safety policy feel like a tradition. It will also bring a sense of accountability, knowing that there is a record about safety will make employees more aware of protocols.
Pamphlets
These are a great place to mix visual stimuli with detailed information. Here is where you want to be detailed about your safety protocols. Don’t forget to include pictures and graphics to break text, that will serve to retain the attention of your employees.
depending on the complexity of your safety protocols, you might want to have a separated pamphlet about the proper usage and maintenance of your personal protective equipment (PPE).
Signs
Most industries have requirements regarding the proper usage of signs. But, you should consider taking this a little farther. Employees, like all humans, can be distracted at times. A bad night of sleep, problems at home, there are many reasons employees could go to work with something else in their mind. A clear sign in an opportune place could prevent a distracted employee from skipping safety precautions.
Executive speech
Leverage the innate respect of your higher ranking employees to drive your safety message forward. You can give the speech yourself or have another high ranking executive do it. This won’t be just another exposure, it will deserve more attention thanks to its source.
You should include all the content you can in your safety campaigns. The more exposure your protocols get, the easier it will be for your employees to remember them. It’s important that your content is engaging, boredom is the biggest threat to attention.
