Last week, we invited you to submit your questions to international speaker, trainer, consultant and author Richard Hawk. Richard is not only an experienced safety professional who has been in the field for more than 20 years but, so he claims, an accomplished guitarist, singer and songwriter. Richard will now make beautiful music out of your questions. So, take it away Richard. . .

Catherine Jones
SafetyXChange

HOW CAN I KEEP TRAINEES AWAKE?

QUESTION

It is time to do our annual WHMIS retraining / training - and our budget is limited as to purchasing new videos etc. - so we may have to use the ones we have used previously - so...

Is there a way to make WHMIS training a little more interesting so that employees don't 'fall asleep' during the presentation?

Thanks.

Lilia Masternak

ANSWER

There are many ways to make your WHMIS retraining/training interesting - even fun and exciting - and do it all on a limited budget!  Whatever you do, don't just stand at the front of the room and lecture while you show a bunch of slides or show the same video you used last year! Get your employees involved. Do things. Put on simple skits or make up games based on the topics. I've worked with dozens of companies to convert their typical boring training sessions into lively learning parties and each time I make sure there is plenty of interaction. Here are four ideas from my publication Spice It Up! 52 Easy Ways To Turn Your Safety Meetings from Bland to GRAND!

1. Make Something Together: During my stress seminar, attendees make a worry box. Everyone writes down a few of their present wor­ries on a small slip of paper and then puts the slip in their box. There's more to this exercise than I've just described, but the point is it gets the audience to do something instead of just listening to me describe how to stop worrying. You can do the same thing with any topic, whether it's back care, fall protection or defensive driving. Make something with your audience and they will become more involved in the session.
2. Hand Out a Small Object to Everyone: For example: give each participant a small bolt before they sit down; immediately, they become involved. It doesn't matter what the object is, as long as you use it as part of your discus­sion, it will have a positive impact on your audience.
3. Set Up a Competition: This gets them involved every time. Break the audience up into groups of no more than five people. Then describe a task or problem. Announce a time limit and set them to work. Like role-playing, you must be prepared for this to work. Be willing to change the rules or even scrap the competition if you feel it isn't accomplish­ing its purpose.
4. Test Time!!!: This is my favorite way to involve an audi­ence. Especially large ones. Ask the questions out loud and have attendees write the answers on a large index card or pre-made answer sheet. Multiple-choice tests work best. (I call mine "multiple-guess" tests because they are never easy and always unfair. ) You can use a test to prove that there are misconceptions about the topic; that the topic is much more important than most people realize; or simply to test your audience's knowledge of the subject.

Also Lilia, if you sign up for my e-zine, Safety Stuff, every week you'll get a new idea from one of my subscribers on how to liven-up your safety meetings/training along with a bunch of other fun and interesting "safety stuff" (go to www.makesafetyfun.com).

Best wishes for your WHMIS training.

DEVELOPING PROACTIVE SAFETY PROGRAMS

QUESTION

We need to develop a proactive safety program that focuses on prevention of incidents rather than minimizing or handling incidents after they occur.  How do we go about developing this type of program?  Also, how do we get safety ingrained in our culture?

Thanks.

Jean Ciulla
Manager, Workplace Safety

ANSWER

How do you measure your safety performance? It's probably by incidents. If you do, that means you also base how well your program is doing on how low or high your incident rate is. That approach makes your program more reactive.

Instead of focusing on numbers of incidents, start finding ways to encourage and then measure positive behavior that helps eliminate incidents. Example: Start a "Spot The Hazard," or "New Ways To Reduce Risk" employee suggestion program--anything that will put the limelight on cutting down on the causes of incidents. (One company I worked with, Super Stores in Sacramento, started a "Safety Contact" program with their supervisors that reduced their incidents by over 90% in one year.) Rewarding and measuring positive behaviors will also help to get safety ingrained in your culture.

One more thought: The more you get your employees involved in the managing and day-to-day promotion of your safety and health efforts the more success you'll have.

THE VALUE OF BACK BRACES

QUESTION

I would like to ask the expert the Pro's and Con's of having your employees wear a back brace.

Thank you.

John

ANSWER

I'm not an expert in this field, but I have done a bit of research and have several years of practical experience as a safety and health manager. There is a mixed opinion among professionals about wearing back braces/belts. Of course, the companies who sell them will cite all positive examples.

Many lifting belts do provide support and force employees to keep their back straight when lifting. That's the up side. The down side is that when you wear a back brace you don't use your muscles as much. Back braces can also give a person a false sense of protection and make them think they can lift more weight than they really can. That's why organizations like the Bureau of Workers' Compensation Division of Safety and Hygiene's and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health don't encourage their use.

However, nothing beats proper ergonomics, stretching and exercise.

WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?

QUESTION

I'm at the beginning of writing a graduate research paper and was looking for guidance from the experts. There are many safety issues to try to resolve and for the life of me I cannot get a grip on one to tailor down. I have just retired from the Air Force and am about to enter the world of civilian safety professional. I would like to focus my paper on an issue I will have to face in the real world. I was thinking of making the topic of my paper the investigation of the characteristics of successful safety programs and their effectiveness in the workplace. Do you think I'm heading in the right direction? If not what direction should I go to benefit myself and other safety professionals?

Thanks for your time.

V/R Mike Kirwan

ANSWER

You're on the right track. Checking out "best practices" is an excellent topic for your paper (and a solid direction for your career studies). Besides the best practices information you'll get from SafetyXChange, another source that will help you understand how beneficial it is to improve your safety program is Case Studies in Safety & Productivity Volumes I & II published by the National Safety Council. Those volumes also include some innovative best practices.

Good luck with your new career.

'till next time.

Richard
Director - Richard Hawk Inc.
http://www.makesafetyfun.com

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