Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In the
time between safety training sessions, a lot can be forgotten. One way to keep employees
focused on safety is with simple, short, daily safety messages.
The Holistic Approach: The holistic approach teaches safety in all areas, not just the job
task. In this approach, anything on safety, safe behavior, or a safe way of doing things
can be the daily safety message. For example, a supervisor may one day remind the
crewmembers to drive home safely. Another time a supervisor may say, “You should
control your anger at all times.”
The Task-Oriented Approach: This approach helps the workers to concentrate on the job
activity. This approach is widely used and has the merit of helping the employee to
follow procedures exactly. This approach is good for complex processes and often is
found in the way of procedure sheets that are checked off as the process is carried out.
The Topic Approach: Yet another approach is to concentrate on a specific message over
a period of days. This allows the trainer to give brief safety messages on a topic that
otherwise would tie workers up away from production time. Instead of giving a detailed
message that may be forgotten in a few days, a brief daily safety message can help in
retention of the training.
Coming Up with a List of Daily Safety Messages
Coming up with a list does not have to be difficult. Resources are found all around you. Some of
these resources include:
1. Use of the accident loss report – Find out what kinds of accidents are happening, how they are
happening, what body parts are being injured, what preventative measures can be taken, etc.
Then prepare a list of safety messages that can be given to help prevent the injuries that you have
been experiencing.
2. Use of prior safety bulletins – What topics have helped create new procedures, safety
messages, and bulletins? Make a list of these topics.
3. Use of worker experience – Invite workers who are intimately experienced with their tasks and
work environment to come up with lists of safety items, safety concerns, and necessary
discussion topics. Review these items and prepare a list.
4. Use of supervisor experience – Invite supervisors to come up with their lists of safety
favorites, safety concerns and “should dos.” Develop a master list for all to use.
5. Use of procedures – Review procedures, list where errors have occurred, and steps on which
to improve. These topics can go a long way to better production and better safety.
Whether brief or long, daily safety messages help companies change behavior and reinforce safe
practices. Give it a try.