Once upon a time, there was a company that had managers, employees and safety policies. One day in this company, there was a message. And the message was important. Very important. It contained a new safety policy, one that could affect every single person in the company. So the message was sent forth to all of the managers to be delivered to all of the employees. No expense was spared to deliver this message. E-mail criers and bulletin board flyers trumpeted the message for nearly a month. Not an ear or eye was missed.

Or so the senders thought. But then one day, something unexpected happened. An employee was caught doing the very thing the message forbade. There was much confusion. The company sent an investigator to ask the employee why he had violated the words of the message--the terms of the new policy. And do you know what that employee said?

"What new policy? Nobody told me anything about a new policy."

From Fairy Tale to Reality

Alas, this scenario is no fairy tale. On the contrary, it happens all the time at all kinds of companies. The company goes to great effort to roll out a new procedure, program or policy. But no matter how hard it tries and how much fanfare is involved, there are still employees who will claim that "nobody told them" about it. Sadly, their ignorance of the message is often sincere, not just a lame "my-dog-ate-it" excuse.

Why Employees Don't Get Messages

Why is it that there always seems to be at least one employee who doesn't get the message? Here are seven reasons:

1) The message was unclear.

2) The message was boring.

3) The employees didn't think the message pertained to them, so they ignored it.

4) Nobody told the employee(s) about the message.

5) The employee(s) didn't care and ignore most of the company's messages anyway.

6) The employee(s) were overloaded with messages and this one was either forgotten or didn't stand out enough to seem important.

7) The employee(s) is/are not telling the truth and knows about the new policy.

Cumulative Ignorance

The cumulative effect of the failure to receive message is often ignorance about a company's approved practices and policies. Even basic information sometimes doesn't get through. For example, Rolls Royce audited communications among the 50,000 employees in its plant. It discovered that machinists had been working on components for years without even knowing what they were for.

Nobody ever looked at the company bulletin boards, and few people even knew how much their engines sold for. Most of the employees didn't know the name of the chairman of the company or even the name of the local manager.

Closing the Communication Gap

As a safety director, you need to be aware of the potential for a communication gap and take steps to verify that your messages and safety policies are getting through to the target audience. So how can you confirm that employees know and understand what you are "selling."

The answer is simple: Ask them. David Packard, founder of Hewlett-Packard believed that, "if an organization is to work effectively, the communication should be through the most effective channel regardless of what the organization chart describes."

When possible, ask a random sampling of employees from various departments about the new program. Don't intimidate or be judgmental. Simply let each person know up front that you're just trying to find out if everyone knows about the program or policy and understands the action he or she needs to take.

It won't be long before you get a sense of whether or not your communication efforts are a success.

Take a Survey

For large companies surveys are usually more practical than one-on-one questioning. They allow you to reach a representative sample of employees. Keep the survey simple. But ask thoughtful questions. If your purpose is to find out if employees have heard about a new policy, true/false or yes/no questions may work best. Yet, realize that a person can say they have heard about something when they haven't.

If you want to find out how well the policy is understood, you'll need to ask open-ended questions, such as, "has anything changed in our procedure? If yes, what?" Or, use multiple choice questions to establish that the person knows enough about the policy to make correct choices.

Make Observations

No matter how many questions you ask or how thorough of a survey you give, the only way to prove that a person got and understood a message that requires a change in behavior is through their actions.

For example: You send out a beautiful package describing a new toolbox/tailgate meeting program which requires supervisors to conduct group discussions at least once a week with their crew. Some supervisors may misinterpret the intent of the program and conduct their meetings by only handing out information packages once a week and having their crew read the material.

So you'll need to watch a few supervisors conduct a tailgate meeting to be sure that they understand what they are expected to do.

Conclusion

Technology and the capacity to send instant messages around the world at the press of a button might blind some of us to a simple truth: Sending a message thousands of miles to Antarctica isn't the problem; getting the message to penetrate a quarter-inch of human skull is.

MY FUTURE'S SO BRIGHT I GOTTA WEAR SHADES

5 Myths about Sunglasses

Sunglasses: They ain't just for looks.

By Richard Hawk

Memorial Day means summer. And, since Catherine did a piece on contact lenses in yesterday's issue, I thought I'd keep the eyewear theme alive by pointing out five myths held by many employees about sunglasses:

1) Sunglasses are just for looks.

Truth: Sunlight can damage the cornea, lens and retina. And squinting not only fails to limit the harmful effects of the sun's rays but makes you look goofy.

2) All sunglasses are the same.

Truth: Like other safety devices, sunglasses come in various forms and have different levels of effectiveness. Check the label to see what that a pair can do. The best sunglasses screen out 95 percent of the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. Make sure your sunglasses provide at least 80 percent protection.

3) Sunglasses have to be expensive to protect effectively.

Truth: Price and protection aren't necessarily related. Check the label, not the price tag, to measure the effectiveness of a pair of sunglasses.

4) It doesn't matter what color the lenses are.

Truth: Yes it does. Yellow and blue lenses may be nice as a fashion statement; but they distort colors and represent a danger, particularly when driving. Also consider how dark lenses are. If you can see your eyes in a mirror when you're wearing the glasses, they probably don't provide much protection.

5) It doesn't matter what lenses are made of.

Truth: It does too. The FDA requires lenses to be "impact resistant." But lenses may still shatter, especially glass ones. Plastic lenses are advisable for sports and active work. Polarized lenses are good for work around water (and snow) because they cut reflection and glare. Gradient lenses which are darker on top and lighter on the bottom are good for driving.

WEIRD WARNINGS

By Richard Hawk

On a can of insect spray: "May be harmful to bees."

On a motorcycle rearview mirror: "Objects in mirror are actually behind you."

On a mattress: "Do not attempt to swallow."

On a TV remote control: "Not dishwasher safe."

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