A sense of humor is an important asset for a supervisor or safety director. It can be especially useful when conducting safety training. Laughter can reduce tension and relieve stress. It can help you get the substance of the safety message across. Trainers who use humor to convey information are generally more effective in getting their audience to accept and remember their message.

Are You Laughing Enough?

But neither you nor anybody else can use humor effectively unless you have the ability to see the funny side of things and are prepared to laugh. So if you're not laughing at work, you're probably not doing your job as well as you could be.

Laughter is good for you in other ways. A good laugh gives your heart and lungs a workout; in fact, it has been called "inner jogging." Laughter is also believed to strengthen your immune system, helping you avoid and recover from illnesses. And, most important of all, laughter is just plain fun. It makes life and its problems easier to take.

Adding Laughter to Your Workplace

How can your bring more laughter into your work life? Here are some ideas:

• Make time to have a little fun. Don't get into such a hurry that you can't share a joke with a crew member or fire back a wisecrack from another team leader. Even during a busy workday, you can spare the few seconds required for humor.

• Learn to see the funny side of things. Often your frustrating day at work can develop into a funny story later at the family dinner table.

• Use humor to cope. People who regularly deal with life and death situations - rescue teams, health care workers, firefighters and others - learn to cope by employing their own brand of humor. Take a lesson from these dedicated workers; humor can help you through just about anything.

• Give yourself permission to laugh. When times are tough, don't feel guilty about feeling good. It is possible - and healthy - to laugh even in times of grief. As laughter improves your outlook, it also improves your ability to perform your job.

• Use humor as a training aid. Employ humor to help you and your crew learn. While the subject may be serious, the methods of learning can be fun. Even safety and health training programs can be more effective if they have an element of humor. Look for opportunities to inject a little humor into safety meetings.

Conclusion

Humor is, of course, subjective. Like anything else, it must be enjoyed in moderation and with the right degree of decorum. Keep it safe by laughing at yourself and never at others. Remember that a remark that might be amusing coming from a co-worker can sound insulting coming from a supervisor. And, of course, avoid racist and sexist comments. But as long as you respect the boundaries, you're bound to make your workplace not only more pleasant but more safe.

LAUGHTER IN TRAINING
When Nobody Laughs

By Barbara Manning Grimm

Laughter is a valuable but often overlooked training aid. Not only does it feel good to laugh, it also breaks the ice. If you can get your trainees to laugh, you'll establish a better connection and enhance the impact of your message. Stated simply, people are more inclined to pay attention to those who can make them laugh.

Of course, getting people to laugh isn't so easy. Why? Because some people simply find it hard to laugh even if they think something is funny. The laughter-impaired might include some of your trainees. If you're leading a training session and "working the audience," seeing one of these non-laughers might throw you off. So it might be helpful to understand why people don't laugh.

Laughing deficiency is attitudinal, not physical. It's largely the product of the person's norms and sense of decorum. There are two manifestations:

• They take things too seriously; and/or
• They think laughing diminishes them in stature and makes them appear frivolous.

People who feel this way about laughter are wrong. Laughter is therapeutic. It makes life easier to take. If members of your crew seem to suffer from laughter deficiency, remind them that you understand they take their responsibilities seriously. But by laughing it up a little, they may be able to perform their work even better. In fact, a good sense of humor may be their most valuable asset for surviving stress and being good at their job.

JOKE OF THE DAY

As Barb says, we all need some laughter in our day. So here's a joke you can trot out at your next training session:

A photographer from a national magazine was assigned to cover the fires at a national park. The magazine wanted to show some of the heroic work of the firefighters as they battled the blaze.

When the photographer arrived, he realized that the smoke was so thick that it would seriously impede or make it impossible for him to photograph anything from ground level. He requested permission to rent a plane and take photos from the air. His request was approved and arrangements were made. He was told to report to a nearby airport where a plane would be waiting for him.

He arrived at the airport and saw a plane warming up near the gate. He jumped in with his bag and shouted, "Let's go!"

The pilot swung the little plane into the wind, and within minutes they were in the air. The photographer said, "Fly over the park and make two or three low passes so I can take some pictures."

"Why?" asked the pilot.

"Because I am a photographer," he responded, "and photographers take photographs."

The pilot was silent for a moment; finally he stammered, "You mean you're not the flight instructor?"

GOT A JOKE?

Do any of you out there have a good joke or riddle that you use to break the ice during training sessions? Please share it with us. Send it to catherinej@bongarde.com. Let us know if we can use your name and company.

Ontario health & safety groups celebrate new centre

WELL DONE, ONTARIO
Introducing the Centre for Health and Safety Innovation

September 20, 2006 marked the realization of an eight-year collaborative dream: the grand opening of the Centre for Health and Safety Innovation in Mississauga, Ontario.

Founded by four health and safety associations - the Electrical & Utilities Safety Association (E&USA), the Industrial Accident Prevention Association (IAPA), the Ontario Service Safety Alliance (OSSA) and the Transportation Health and Safety Association of Ontario (THSAO) - the CHSI is designed to gather under one roof a pool of workplace safety resources.

"This is the beginning of a new focal point for the sharing of knowledge, information and training," says Maureen Shaw, IAPA President and CEO. "It is the place where many conversations will take place that will create the community change in culture and attitudes around creating healthy and safe workplaces."

The CHSI will also facilitate collaboration between Ontario's Ministry of Labour and Workplace Safety and Insurance Board and 10 other Ontario-based health and safety organizations.

The Centre, which will act as a key resource for employers and employees on how to make workplaces injury- and illness-free, features a large presentation room, a business lounge, a business support centre and several training rooms that companies can rent, equipped with state-of-the-art, built-in audio-visual equipment.

For more information about the new CHSI, call 1.905.219.0044 (ext 2474) or 1.866.432.CHSI (ext. 2474).

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