If your safety program is a rambling, hit or miss proposition that focuses on many different violations, safety meetings will soon turn into boring sessions that turn everyone off.
If you’ve been loading your safety meetings with generalities such as “Watch Your Housekeeping” or “Be Careful With Tools,” and you seem to get little or no cooperation, try a single topic approach.
Choose a subject that involves as many people as possible and confine your talk, suggestions, and questions to that single topic. It is more effective to teach people now to handle a single problem at a time, so they can eliminate that one hazard.
Be specific. For example, if you discuss housekeeping on a continuing basis, pin down the subject for a particular meeting to specifics: the danger of discarding sharp items in wastebaskets, or the unsafe use of electrical cords and extensions. Once you’ve delivered your points, make sure everyone understands any rules or new procedures.
The final step is the follow-up. Draw up a priority list of any items that need to be corrected. Create a timetable for corrective action. Check frequently to make sure the rules are being followed and are not allowed to lapse.
Here are six guidelines to help you make every meeting an action talk that will destroy apathy.
- Choose a common problem that can be broken down into specifics.
- Limit discussions to a single hazard per meeting.
- Develop a comprehensive plan to eliminate the problem.
- Discuss any safety procedures to be adopted.
- Arrange for a schedule of follow-up checks to assure observance of safety recommendations.
- Prepare a summary of the meeting and all points discussed.
- Review open items at the next meeting.