The Value Of Safety Moments In The Workplace

We all know those people in our lives: the rule followers, the people who are cautious and like for everyone else to be the same way. 

You probably work with someone like that – always looking to point out a way we may be putting ourselves at risk. And while sometimes we may want to roll our eyes, we all need to tap into our inner ‘safety officer’ sometimes.

Here are some reasons why safety moments exist in the workplace and how to keep them interesting!

To be able to use safety moments well in your workplace, you need a few key principles: Strategy, Clarity and Participation. 

One point of frustration with safety moments is predictable topics that aren’t respectful or helpful to the staff. For example, pointing out something that everyone knows about but doesn’t do, isn’t going to bring about behavioral change. 

To be most effective, you need to be strategic.

• Keep safety moments brief and to-the-point. By doing this, you will keep your audience and they are also more likely to remember it.
• Get buy-in from your staff. Ask different people to lead the safety moments on a topic they care about. This not only shakes up the presentation, it also builds leadership capacity within your team.
• When possible, do informal or small group safety moments, allowing for discussion and brainstorming of ideas of how to resolve any safety issues that come up.
• Think outside of the box with your topics. Safety depends on the environment as well as the people. You don’t need to just talk about the physical environment, you could ask others to share about good nutrition, sleep and/or mental health.

Finally, be creative! Don’t be afraid to have fun with safety. While it is a topic that you want to be taken seriously, it’s also important to note that if people enjoy it, they will get more out of it, are more likely to remember it and may even look forward to workplace safety moments!

Looking for more help with safety in the workplace? Check out our many courses promoting workplace safety including a safety assessment.