Because We All Interpret Information Differently

You just conducted a Lunch and Learn for your workforce, during which you had an open discussion about the contents of your Occupational Health and Safety Management System. Great work! Keep doing this. Hosting sessions on health and safety is a great way to keep the lines of communication open and to disseminate important information. However, you may ask yourself – what else could I be doing to improve the strength of my organization’s OHS communication? If this question is on your mind, you’ve already won half the battle because you’re thinking continuous improvement. So, what can you do?

Well, first things first – make sure health and safety is integrated into everything you do. For example, if your team is having an update meeting on finances – conduct a safety moment at the beginning of the meeting. Make safety a way of being.

Once safety is front of mind for all activities, start reviewing the mediums through which you disseminate your safety content. We all learn and understand in unique ways. To ensure the message is being adequately consumed, we really need to provide the information in a multitude of formats so everyone, of all different learning approaches, can understand and apply the critical safety practices.

Having words on paper is probably one medium you already have at your disposal. Your Occupational Health and Safety Management System can be an invaluable tool for some, so it is important to ensure it is reviewed at determined intervals to ensure the information within is valid and represents best practices. However, for those who find it difficult to retain information from reading word after word, we need to get creative to ensure they understand the important safety information as much as anyone else.

A great next step is providing a set of Life Saving Rules and Safety Tenets to your workforce. These reference sources (usually credit card sized) condense the most critical safety information for your organization into an easily consumable, pocketable format. It is well documented in industry that providing a set of basic safety standards to your workforce will significantly drive down the potential for incidents and injuries.

Following from that, provide visual cues for physical safety and mental health. Immersing ourselves in visual materials (posters) at the workplace will keep our approach to work strong and efficient. Do not forget to consider the importance of mental health in your organization’s overall safety performance. Your people need to feel content, fulfilled and safe in order to conduct their work in a safe and healthy manner.

We’ve hit the literary medium and the visual medium, so now let’s talk interactive. One of the simplest methods to address interactive learning is through weekly safety meetings. Much like Lunch and Learns, weekly safety meetings provide a venue for discussion around a variety of health and safety topics. However, it’s the frequency at which safety meetings are held that is the key feature. Repeating that communicative atmosphere over and over again will impress upon your team that each and every co-worker is a resource they can rely on and draw upon.

The most effective of all interactive mediums is online training – especially with young workers. The new generation is looking for quick and succinct hits of vital information to build up their skill set – and they prefer to consume it via a multimedia resource (i.e., a source that provides both visual and audible discourse). Our Safety Culture 100 Online Course, for example, provides visual cues, incorporates key messaging, provides narration and allows for interactivity and feedback through its method of assessment.

Whatever mediums you are currently drawing on to disseminate and strengthen your Safety Culture, ensure that you are constantly considering methods to elevate and enhance health and safety in your workplace. With a mindset for continuous improvement, you are actively protecting yourself, your co-workers and your loved ones.