Short Safety Chats to Boost Employee Engagement

Posted on 08/18 by Erin Helms

Short safety chats with your workers are an ideal way to boost employee engagement. It is an excellent way to prevent lapses and complacency among your team members. Short safety chats remind employees of proper procedures while preparing them for new hazards they might encounter during their workday.

What Is a Short Safety Chat?

A short safety chat is an easy-to-digest brief prework meeting about a particular safety topic. The talks are most effective when delivered in a concise, focused way. Keeping it short keeps it memorable in workers' minds so they can easily apply the advice immediately and recall it over the long-term. These safety talks can cover any topic related to worker and workplace safety.

Make the Talks Engaging and Effective

It would help to consider ways to maintain safety engagement and interest in your content. A safety talk is only helpful if the audience is awake in the first two minutes! Here is how you engage your workers in a safety talk: Ask questions. The prime reason people ignore meetings is because they feel it will teach them nothing new. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy; they will check out and miss the vital information you relay. Ask questions. When people can speak their minds, they are more apt to engage in the topic. Let your questions be an avenue to solicit feedback and suggestions from frontline workers. Toss in some humanity. Avoid being formal and clinical in your discussion. You will lose the audience. Use visual aids, humor, and analogies to spice up these talks. It will help you keep your workers’ attentive and receptive to your conversation. Reward your workers’ engagement. Consider rewarding those workers who engage in the talks. These workers engage by asking poignant questions, helping others understand and adding their thoughts. Gift cards and other incentives work well.

Possible Safety Topics

Let your work objectives and conditions decide your safety talk topics. If you need help getting started, here are ideas: External hazards. These hazards include electrical safety, hot work safety, cold work safety, defensive driving, anti-phishing and active shooter awareness. Individual safety. Topics in this category might include personal protective equipment, particulate matter safety, tool safety, personal health, office ergonomics, proper lifting techniques, hearing protection, substance abuse, hydration and first aid. Safety administration. This category might include communication review, accident reporting, work stoppages and workplace access. General safety. This group includes situational awareness, ladder safety, emergency exits, heavy vehicle safety, fire extinguisher use, confined space awareness and carbon monoxide safety.

Partner With A Safety Focused Staffing Agency

Try to make time frequently to review safety topics. Make safety a fixture of everyone’s workday. Safety is a top priority in protecting your business, operations and people. The professionals at LaborMAX can help your company reduce overtime expenses, increase productivity, add flexibility to your workforce and avoid bottlenecks.

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