Repetitive Safety Training: How to Block the Boredom

Yesterday’s Advisor made the point that repetition is a key element in safety training.

Presenting a key point, key terms, or a whole lesson over and over takes into account the fact that some people just “don’t get it” the first time around, safety experts say. Also, people forget new information over time. As master trainer Bob Pike explained, “People remember 90 percent of what you’ve taught them after an hour … and 10 percent after 30 days.”

But repetition brings its own hazard: boredom, or a sense of “we’ve already seen this.”.That’s often followed by looking longingly at watches or the exit door, while thinking of what’s going on back on the job … or what’s on TV tonight.

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Prewritten safety meetings? You’ll find them in virtually every format, and easily customized, too, in BLR’s best-selling Safety Meetings Library on CD. Try it at no cost. Click for details.

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What’s the solution? Change the packaging of the lesson, even though the factual information in that package remains essentially the same. One way to do this, according to the BLR program, Safety Meetings Library, is through the meeting format. Safety Meetings Library suggests these variations:

Mandatory Meeting—sessions whose content is OSHA-required. The fact that there are legalities involved, with the possibility of official inspections, is a powerful motivator.

Comprehensive—sessions with broad coverage of a particular topic. This is likely your bedrock training, in which you try to cover the subject from all angles.

7-minute—short sessions designed as reinforcement of the topic. This trains on the bare bones of the comprehensive approach, when the bare bones are enough for basic safety. Why 7 minutes? Studies show that’s the amount of time most trainees can concentrate before distraction sets in.

Initial—sessions used as introductory training on a topic. Because trainees are totally unfamiliar with the subject, stick to the most basic information. Refinements can come later.

Refresher—sessions designed to follow up on or reinforce previous training.

Tool Box Talk—sessions designed as more informal reinforcement of a particular topic. The fact that this type of session just “sort of happens” is helpful, as trainees don’t have their defenses up against new learning, which sometimes happens in more formal settings.

Hands-On—sessions with training activities. Don’t just demonstrate the new procedure yourself, but have trainees try it several times until you are satisfied they all get it.

Spanish—With the growing Hispanic population, don’t forget the special needs of these workers. Although many speak some English, thorough training may mean you need special materials, a competent translator, or both. State labor department websites sometimes provide lists of translators you can call on. The same principles apply with any significant non-English-speaking sub-group in your workforce.

What about prep time?

Of course, whatever meeting format you choose, there’s a downside: The time it takes to prepare. You need to research the topic, write the content in a presentable way and, if you’re going the full route, prepare visual aids, charts, quizzes, and handouts. And you have to do it every time OSHA or other authorities change the regs that affect you, or whenever management adds a new process or piece of equipment that has safety implications.

Time to prepare meetings becomes even more critical when an incident happens. You know that an immediate meeting will be most effective in preventing the problem from happening again. Right after an incident, workers are most receptive to your message, but there’s just no time to prepare.

For these reasons, we’d suggest you take a no-cost look at BLR’s remarkable Safety Meetings Library program. It’s more than 400 already written, ready-to-train meetings on almost every safety issue you can think of, available as fast as you can insert a CD and click a mouse. It uses all the different meeting formats outlined above, and virtually all the tools, as well.

Like you, we couldn’t develop such materials on the fly. Instead, we’ve been collecting the finest in safety meeting material for the more than two decades that BLR has been a force in the safety market. In that time, we’ve been able to amass a remarkable collection of materials, on a wide variety of topics.

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Try BLR’s Safety Meetings Library at no cost or risk. Click here for info.

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In addition, Safety Meetings Library provides these supplemental materials, all of which may be customized with your organization’s name and specifics.

• Employee Safety Meeting Training Record
• Safety Meeting Sign-up Sheet
• Employee Safety Meeting Evaluation Questionnaire
• Training Complete Certificate

A word on 10/30-hour training

Safety Meetings Library also addresses the need for OSHA 10/30-hour training, with a special section on the subject. And it updates itself as long as you stay in the program. You’re periodically shipped a new CD that adds new training meetings and other material as regs or best practices change.

You can get a preview of the program by clicking the links below. But for the best look, we suggest a no-cost, no-obligation trial. Click here  and we’ll arrange it for you.

Download document type list
Download product sample
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