Emedco's Blog

So, you just finished planning and conducting the best safety training class your organization has ever seen. Good work! Now your employees have all of the information they need to go out into the workplace and do their job in the safest way possible for the rest of their careers.

If only it was that simple.

A day of safety training, even if done annually, is not going to keep employees focused on safety long term. It can be difficult to keep safety in the forefront of employees’ minds given the daily projects and pressures of the workplace.

Employees need to be reminded and motivated to work safe – day in and day out. Here are a few things you can do:

• Continuously reward employees for safe practices and certifications. Present employees with certification plaques, pins, buttons or wallet cards they can wear or display in the workplace. These items can bring a sense of pride to employees as well as help workers identify individuals who are trained or certified in particular tasks.  
• Communicate, communicate, communicate. Signs, banners and labels are a great way to constantly remind employees of workplace safety practices. Place them on walls, machines or in large work areas. Stick them on hard hats and other equipment employees use regularly. Don’t clutter the workplace putting safety signs on everything in sight. Use discretion, but ensure there are constant safety reminders in the facility.
• Observe and correct hazards…immediately. Employees should be aware they are frequently being observed for proper safety practices and will be immediately reported for unsafe actions. This will ensure that safety practices become as important to employees as the output of their jobs. Scoreboards are a useful tool to publicly keep track of employees’ safety performance.

Good luck!

Posted by got2 love safety