There are two common conditions that may be interfering with your efforts to communicate important safety information to your workers: ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and dyslexia. Last week, I offered some strategies to help workers with ADHD work more safely. This week, I'll look at dyslexia. And, keep in mind that these tips on clear communication will be helpful for all of your workers.

Dyslexia Is NOT Stupidity

Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb. Agatha Christie wrote mysteries that were enjoyed worldwide. What do these two incredibly successful people have in common? They both had dyslexia.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Dyslexia is a disorder shared by many famous people, including Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Nelson Rockefeller, John F. Kennedy and Mozart.

What Dyslexia Is

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability that affects up to 20 percent of the population.

People with dyslexia have difficulty reading, writing, spelling and/or speaking. The disorder can have this effect even on persons with an average to above-average intelligence, strong motivation and appropriate schooling. Most people suffering from dyslexia are highly creative, original thinkers who have learned to compensate well for their shortcomings.

People with dyslexia are not slow learners. They are simply people who learn differently. Many read slowly, misread, mistake similar words, omit words or tend to blur or distort words. Some have difficulty telling time, distinguishing right from left and remembering number sequences, such as phone numbers. Experts say the brains of people with dyslexia are wired differently and that people with the disability process language less efficiently.

How to Adapt Material for Workers with Dyslexia

You can make it easier for those in your workplace with dyslexia to process information, including safety training and instructions. And, to repeat, these are communication techniques that work equally well with workers who don't have dyslexia, ADHD or other disorders:

Conclusion

It's not enough to provide training and directions. To keep your workers safe, you must be sure that they have processed the information. The most important thing you can do to help your workers with communications obstacles is to be patient and supportive!

THE INTERNET & THE SAFETY PROFESSION

Results of the SafetyXChange Survey

By Catherine Jones

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our informal survey two weeks ago on how access to the Internet affects your job. Here's a quick look at some of the results.

1. The majority of you (53.8%) are online everyday searching for safety information, while others casually surf the net two or three times a week. (Only 8.3% admitted to obsessive use of the Internet.)

2. Google is by far your preferred search engine (82.7%), followed by Yahoo, MSN, Dogpile, Ask, Exalead, Refdesk and Blingo.

3. The top 10 safety items you're researching on the Internet (in reverse order):

4. The majority of you (51.3%) report having an online component in your safety programs, with approximately 5% of you waiting for your company to deliver on its promise to purchase an online component.

5. The top resource material for the online component of your safety program are (in reverse order):

(And to those of you who voiced frustration that the question required an answer, even if you don't use an online component: Oops. Sorry about that.)

6. Your top reasons for not purchasing online safety training resources are (in reverse order):

7. A few of you are very skilled Internet researchers and report being successful in your search efforts all the time (or very close to all the time). The majority of you (66%) find what you're looking for most of the time and 18% only half the time.

8. When it comes to finding safety information online, your pet peeves include:

As one of you put it: Safety related sites are like Safety People. There are some very good ones, and some very bad ones; and they don't wear signs.

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