Write either a disaster safety plan (Case Study 1) or an ergonomics orientation program (Case Study 2) of approximately 1,500 words.
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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT PROMOTING SAFETY
MAJOR TOPICS
▶ Company Safety Policy ▶ Safety Rules and Regulations ▶ Employee Participation in Promoting Safety ▶ Safety Training ▶ Suggestion Programs ▶ Visual Awareness ▶ Safety Committees ▶ Personal Commitment to Workplace Safety ▶ Employee-Management Participation ▶ Incentives ▶ Competition ▶ Teamwork Approach to Promoting Safety ▶ Persuasion as a Promotional Tool ▶ Promoting Off-the-Job Safety
One of the best ways to promote safety is to design it into the tools, machines, and technologies with
which people interact in the workplace. Safety analysis can also be effective by eliminating hazards
before they cause accidents and illnesses. However, even the best design or analysis cannot completely
eliminate the potential for accidents. For this reason, it is important to have accident prevention
procedures and make sure that employees follow them.
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The purpose of safety promotion is to keep employees focused on doing their work the safe way, every
day. This chapter provides prospective and practicing safety and health professionals with information
that will enable them to promote safety effectively.
COMPANY SAFETY POLICY
Promoting safety begins with having a published company safety policy. The policy should make it clear
that safe work practices are expected of all employees at all levels at all times. The safety policy serves as
the foundation upon which all other promotional efforts are built.
Figure 28–1 is an example of a company safety policy. This policy briefly and succinctly expresses the
company’s commitment to safety. It also indicates clearly that employees are expected to perform their
duties with safety foremost in their minds. With such a policy in place and clearly communicated to all
employees, other efforts to promote safety will have solid backing.
A company’s safety policy need not be long. In fact, a short and simple policy is better. Regardless of its
length or format, a safety policy should convey at least the following messages:
■ The company and its top managers are committed to safety and health.
■ Employees are expected to perform their duties in a safe and healthy manner.
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FIGURE 28–1 Sample company safety policy.
■ The company’s commitment extends beyond the walls of its plant to include customers and the
community.
Promoting Safety by Example
After a safety policy has been implemented, its credibility with employees will be determined by the
example set by management, from supervisors through executives. It is critical that managers follow the
company safety policy in both letter and spirit. Managers who set a poor example undermine all the
company’s efforts to promote safety. The “do as I say, not as I do” approach will not work with employees
today.
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Positive examples tend to break down most frequently under the pressure of deadlines. To meet a
deadline, supervisors may encourage their team members to take shortcuts or, at least, look the other way
when they do. This type of behavior conveys the message that safety is not really important—something
we talk about, but not something we believe in. The issue of setting a positive example is discussed further
in the next section.
SAFETY RULES AND REGULATIONS
A company’s safety policy is translated into everyday action and behavior by rules and regulations. Rules
and regulations define behavior that is acceptable and unacceptable from a safety and health perspective.
From a legal point of view, an employer’s obligations regarding safety rules can be summarized as
follows:
■ Employers must have rules that ensure a safe and healthy workplace.
■ Employers must ensure that all employees are knowledgeable about the rules.
■ Employers must ensure that safety rules are enforced objectively and consistently.
The law tends to view employers who do not meet these three criteria as being negligent. Having the rules
is not enough. Having rules and making employees aware of them is not enough. Employers must develop
appropriate rules, familiarize all employees with them, and enforce the rules. It is this final step—
enforcement—from which most negligence charges arise.
Although it is acceptable to prioritize rules and assign different levels of punishment for failing to observe
them, it is unacceptable to ignore rules. If the punishment for failure to observe Rule X is a letter of
reprimand, then every person who fails to observe Rule X should receive such a letter every time. Of
course, consequences for repeat violations should be more than a letter of reprimand.
Objectivity and consistency are critical when enforcing rules. Objectivity means that rules are enforced
without bias. Consistency means that the rules are enforced in the same manner every time with no
regard to any outside factors. This means that the same punishment
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is assigned regardless of who commits the infraction. Objectivity and consistency are similar but different
concepts in that one can be consistent without being objective. For example, one could be consistently
biased. Failure to be objective and consistent can undermine the credibility and effectiveness of a
company’s efforts to promote safety.
FIGURE 28–2 Guidelines for developing safety rules and regulations.
Figure 28–2 contains guidelines to follow when developing safety rules. These guidelines help ensure a
safe and healthy workplace without unduly inhibiting workers in the performance of their jobs. This is an
important point for prospective and practicing safety and health professionals to understand. Fear of
negligence charges can influence an employer in such a way that the book of safety rules becomes a
multivolume nightmare that is beyond the comprehension of most employees.
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Such attempts to avoid costly litigation, penalties, or fines by regulating every move that employees make
and every breath that they take are likely to backfire. Remember, employers must do more than just write
rules. They must also familiarize all employees with them and enforce them. This is not possible if the
rulebook is as thick as an una-bridged dictionary. Apply common sense when writing safety rules.
EMPLOYEE PARTICIPATION IN PROMOTING SAFETY
One of the keys to promoting safety successfully is to involve employees. They usually know better than
anyone where hazards exist. In addition, they are the ones who must follow safety rules. A fundamental
rule of management is if you want employees to make a commitment, involve them from the start. One of
the most effective strategies for getting employees to commit to the safety program is to involve them in
the development of it. Employees should also be involved in the implementation, monitoring, and follow-
up. In all phases, employees should be empowered to take action to improve safety. The most effective
safety program is one that employees view as their program.
SAFETY TRAINING
One of the best ways to promote safety in the workplace is to provide all employees with ongoing safety
training. Initial safety training should be part of the orientation process for new employees. Subsequent
safety training should be aimed at developing new, more specific, and more in-depth knowledge and at
renewing and updating existing knowledge.
Safety training is covered at length in Chapter 12. This chapter emphasizes the importance of promoting
safety by providing training on a continual basis. Training serves a dual purpose in the promotion of
safety. First, it ensures that employees know how to work safely and why doing so is important. Second, it
shows that management is committed to safety. Refer to Chapter 12 to see how safety training programs
are organized and which topics should be covered at the different levels of training.
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SUGGESTION PROGRAMS
Suggestion programs, if properly handled, promote safety and health. Well-run suggestion programs offer
two advantages: (1) they solicit input from the people most likely to know where hazards exist and (2)
they involve and empower employees which, in turn, gives them ownership of the safety program.
Suggestion programs must meet certain criteria to be effective:
■ All suggestions must receive a formal response.
■ All suggestions must be answered immediately.
■ Management must monitor the performance of each department in generating and responding to
suggestions.
■ System costs and savings must be reported.
■ Recognition and awards must be handled promptly.
■ Good ideas must be implemented.
■ Personality conflicts must be minimized.
Suggestion programs that meet these criteria are more likely to be successful than those that don’t. Figure
28–3 is an example of a suggestion form that may be used as part of a company’s safety program. Note that
all the following must be recorded: the date that the suggestion was submitted, the date that the
suggestion was logged in, and the date that the employee received a response.
This form satisfies the formal response and immediate response criteria. It also makes it easier to monitor
response. Jones Petroleum Products (in Figure 28–3) publishes system costs and savings in its monthly
newsletter for employees, implements good ideas, and recognizes employees with a variety of awards
ranging from certificates to cash at a monthly recognition ceremony. This company’s suggestion program
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is an example of one that promotes not just safety, but continual improvements in quality, productivity,
and competitiveness.
FIGURE 28–3 Sample safety suggestion form.
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FIGURE 28–4 Sample safety reminder sign.
VISUAL AWARENESS
We tend to be a visual society. This is why television and billboards are so effective in marketing
promotions. Making a safety and health message visual can be an effective way to get the message across.
Figure 28–4 shows a sign that gives machine operators a visual reminder to use the appropriate machine
guards. Such a sign is placed on or near the machine in question. If operators cannot activate their
machines without first reading this sign, they will be reminded to use the safe way every time they
operate the machine.
A sign like Figure 28–5 may be placed on the door leading into the hard hat area or on a stand placed
prominently at the main point of entry if there is no door. Such a sign helps prevent inadvertent slip-ups
when employees are in a hurry or are thinking about something else. Figures 28–6, 28–7, and 28–8 are
additional examples of signs and posters that make a safety message visual.
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Several rules of thumb can help ensure the effectiveness of efforts to make safety visual:
■ Change signs, posters, and other visual aids periodically. Visual aids left up too long begin to blend
into the background and are no longer noticed.
■ Involve employees in developing the messages that are displayed on signs and posters. Employees are
more likely to notice and heed their own messages than those of others.
■ Keep visual aids simple and the message brief.
■ Make visual aids large enough to be seen easily from a reasonable distance.
FIGURE 28–5 Sample safety reminder sign.
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FIGURE 28–6 Sample safety reminder sign.
FIGURE 28–7 Sample safety reminder sign.
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FIGURE 28–8 Sample safety reminder sign.
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■ Locate visual aids for maximum effect. For example, the sign in Figure 28–4 should be located on the
machine in question, preferably near the on/off switch so that the operator cannot activate the
machine without seeing it.
■ Use color whenever possible to attract attention to the visual aid (but be sure to follow the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) color standards where applicable).
SAFETY COMMITTEES
Another way to promote safety through employee involvement is the safety committee. Safety committees
provide a formal structure through which employees and management can funnel concerns and
suggestions about safety and health issues. The composition of the safety committee can be a major factor
in the committee’s success or failure.
The most effective committees are those with a broad cross-section of workers representing all
departments. This offers two advantages: (1) it gives each member of the committee a constituent group
for which he or she is responsible and (2) it gives all employees a representative voice on the committee.
There is disagreement over whether an executive-level manager should serve on the safety committee. On
one hand, an executive-level participant can give the committee credibility, visibility, and access. On the
other hand, the presence of an executive manager can inhibit the free flow of ideas and concerns. The key
to whether an executive manager’s participation will be positive or negative lies in the personality and
management skills of the executive in question.
An executive who knows how to put employees at ease, interact in a nonthreatening manner, and draw
people out will add to the effectiveness of the committee. An executive with a threatening attitude will
render the committee useless. Consequently, the author recommends the involvement of a very carefully
selected executive manager on the safety committee.
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The safety and health professional should be a member of the committee serving as an advisor, facilitator,
and catalyst. Committee members should select a chairperson from the membership and a recording
secretary for taking minutes and maintaining committee records. Neither the executive manager nor the
safety and health professional should serve as chairperson, but either can serve as recording secretary.
Excluding executive managers and safety and health professionals from the chair gives employees more
ownership in the committee.
Safety committees work only if members are truly empowered to identify hazards and take steps to
eliminate them.
Safety Committee Meetings
Every employee who serves on a safety committee has another job to do. Consequently, it is important to
have meetings that are both efficient and effective. This is accomplished by having an agenda that gives
both structure and direction to meetings.
A typical meeting of the safety committee should proceed as follows:
1. Call to order.
2. Record attendance.
3. Review and approve previous minutes.
4. Discuss old business.
5. Discuss new business.
6. Discuss new accidents.
7. Discuss near misses.
8. Report on inspections, subcommittee work, special assignments, safety programs, and so on.
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9. Make special presentations (guests, videos/DVDs, demonstrations, and so on).
10. Make announcements.
11. Adjourn.
Do’s and Don’ts of Safety Committees
For both management and employees to participate willingly and contribute effectively, safety committees
must work well. In addition to having an agenda for meetings and sticking to it, the following do’s and
don’ts should be observed:
DO These
■ Suggest strategies and options for management to improve health and safety performance.
■ Train committee members so that they can successfully carry out their responsibilities.
■ Give the safety committee authority commensurate with their responsibilities.
■ Have goals and objectives, and measure against them to track progress.
■ Encourage employee involvement by actively creating an atmosphere of trust, team-work, respect,
and partnership.
■ Be patient. Be reasonable in allowing enough time for the committee to work.
■ Reward progress, participation, and leadership.
■ Train management on their responsibility for safety and on the support role of the safety committee.
■ Stagger committee memberships to maintain a mixture of experience levels.
DON’T DO These
■ Allow the safety committee to function as “safety cops.” Keep management responsible for decisions
and enforcements.
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■ Discuss topics unrelated to health and safety at safety committee meetings. Stay away from labor and
personnel issues.
■ Rotate members too quickly. A one-year minimum membership is the norm.
■ Let any one member dominate safety committee meetings. Encourage and maintain equal
participation.
■ Allow safety committee members to bring just problems to the meetings. Have them bring solutions
as well.
■ Allow the safety committee to become scapegoats when something goes wrong. Management is
responsible for safety performance.
■ Punish. It creates fear, which inhibits communication and partnership. For example, blaming an
injured employee can obscure other contributing causes and encourage underreporting. Instead of
punishing people, do hold them accountable for their responsibilities.
Discussion Case: What Is Your Opinion?
“I want our management team to develop a program to promote better safety practices in this company,”
said the CEO. “If we develop the program, it will show employees that we are committed to safety.” “I like
the idea of showing executive-level commitment,” said the vice president for engineering. “But the
program may be more readily accepted if we involve employees in developing it.” Executive commitment
or employee involvement—which is the better approach? What is your opinion?
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PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO WORKPLACE SAFETY
If every employee is committed to working safely every day, workplace safety will take care of itself. But
how does a company gain this type of personal commitment from its employees? One way is to have
employees commit themselves to safety by signing on the bottom line.
Gaining a personal commitment from employees has merit. Ours is a society that revolves around the
written signature. We sign countless documents in our lives, from credit statements to bank loans to home
mortgages to college registration forms. In each of these cases, our signature is a written pledge of our
commitment to meet certain responsibilities.
Companies gain the following three advantages from making signing on the dotted line a part of their
program to promote safety:
■ By their signature, employees make a personal commitment.
■ By their signature, employees promise to interact positively with fellow workers when they see them
ignoring safety precautions.
■ By their signature, employees give fellow workers permission to correct them when they ignore safety
precautions.
EMPLOYEE-MANAGEMENT PARTICIPATION
An excellent way to promote safety is to secure the cooperation of management and labor. For a
company’s safety program to succeed, employee-management participation and support is critical.
Fortunately, employee-management agreement on workplace safety is commonplace.
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When disagreement over a safety procedure does surface, the issue at the heart is usually money.
Employees are likely to favor procedures that enhance workplace safety regardless of cost. Management,
on the other hand, is likely to want to weigh the cost versus the benefits of safety improvement strategies.
However, sometimes employees, rather than managers, question safety strategies.
An example of an employee questioning a safety enhancement strategy occurred during the Sign Up for
Safety campaign conducted at the Northwestern Region of Consumer Power Company in Muskegon,
Michigan. In an attempt to gain a personal commitment to safety, employees should be asked to sign a
declaration that they will work in a safe manner. This is a technique that has met with a great deal of
success.
However, one employee of Consumer Power Company refused to sign his name, claiming the company’s
management team might use it against him.
The employee’s eventual willingness to sign the safety declaration in this case is what made the program
work for Consumer Power Company. With management and employees on the same team, the safety
program is much more likely to succeed.
Safety Fact: Supervisor’s Role in Safety
Research and experience show that the first-line supervisor plays a critical role in promoting safe and
healthy work practices. The supervisor has the most frequent face-to-face contact with employees and
provides the example they are most likely to follow. If supervisors are committed to safety, those who
report directly to them will probably be equally committed. Therefore, time spent by safety and health
professionals gaining the support, cooperation, and commitment of supervisors is time well spent.
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INCENTIVES
If properly used, incentives can help promote safety.
Safety is another issue that is being confronted using incentives. To promote safety effectively, incentives
must be properly structured. The following strategies are recommended for enhancing the effectiveness
of incentive programs:
1. Define objectives. Begin by deciding what is supposed to be accomplished by the incentive program.
2. Develop specific criteria. On what basis will the incentives be awarded? This question should be
answered during the development of the program. Specific criteria define the type of behavior and
level of performance that is to be rewarded as well as guidelines for measuring success.
3. Make rewards meaningful. For an incentive program to be effective, the rewards must be meaningful
to the recipients. Giving an employee a reward that he or she does not value will not produce the
desired results. To determine what types of rewards will be meaningful, it is necessary to involve
employees.
4. Recognize that only employees who will participate in an incentive program know what incentives
will motivate them. In addition, employees must feel it is their program. This means that employees
should be involved in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the incentive program.
5. Keep communications clear. It is important for employees to understand fully the incentive program
and all of its aspects. Communicate with employees about the program, ask for continual feedback,
listen to the feedback, and act on it.
6. Use nonmonetary rewards. Often nonmonetary incentives are more effective than money in
promoting the desired results. An excellent resource for identifying nonmonetary rewards is the book
The 1001 Rewards & Recognition Fieldbook by Nelson and Spitzer.
7. Reward teams. Rewarding teams can be more effective than rewarding individuals. This is because
work in the modern industrial setting is more likely to be accomplished by a team than an individual.
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When this is the case, other team members may resent the recognition given to an individual
member. Such a situation can cause the incentive program to backfire.
OSHA’s Stand on Safety Incentives
Organizations that plan to use safety incentives should be aware that OSHA is skeptical of them. OSHA is
not against the use of safety incentives per se. Rather, OSHA is concerned that safety incentives, if not
properly handled, might lead to unsafe behavior, failures to report accidents and near misses, and
hazardous conditions that are not reported. OSHA’s greatest concern is that safety incentives that are not
properly handled might encourage employees to cover up safety problems rather than report them.
A possible scenario is this: A minor accident occurs but the individual involved does not report it because
of the peer pressure from his colleagues and direct pressure from his supervisor to keep quiet. Their
message to the injured employee is: “If you report the accident, we won’t get out incentive money this
month and we need the money.” Consequently, OSHA—having been apprised that cases such as this are
happening—is concerned that incentives intended to promote safety might actually do just the opposite.
Organizations that plan to use safety incentives should think through all of the unintended consequences
and be prepared to show OSHA that the incentives promote safety rather than encourage employees to
cover up safety problems.
COMPETITION
Competition is another strategy that can be used to promote safety. However, if this approach is not used
wisely, it can backfire and do more harm than good. To a degree, most people are competitive. A child’s
competitive instinct is nurtured through play and reinforced by
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sports and school activities. Safety and health professionals can use the adult’s competitive instinct when
trying to motivate employees, but competition on the job should be carefully organized, closely
monitored, and strictly controlled. Competition that is allowed to get out of hand can lead to cheating and
hard feelings among coworkers.
Competition can be organized between teams, shifts, divisions, or even plants. Here are some tips that will
help safety and health professionals use competition in a positive way while ensuring that it does not get
out of hand:
■ Involve the employees who will compete in planning programs of competition.
■ Where possible, encourage competition among groups rather than individuals, while simultaneously
promoting individual initiative within groups.
■ Make sure that the competition is fair by ensuring that the resources available to competing teams are
equitably distributed and that human talent is as appropriately spread among the teams as possible.
The main problem with using competition to promote safety is that it can induce competing teams to
cover up or fail to report accidents just to win. Safety and health professionals should be particularly
attentive to this situation and watch carefully for evidence that accidents are going unreported. If this
occurs, the best approach is to confront the situation openly and frankly. Employees should be reminded
that improved safety is the first priority and winning the competition is second. Failing to report an
accident should be grounds for eliminating a team from competition.
TEAMWORK APPROACH TO PROMOTING SAFETY
Increasingly, teamwork is stressed as the best way to get work done in the contemporary workplace.
Consequently, it follows that the teamwork approach is an excellent way to promote safety. Teamwork is a
fundamental component of the total safety management, or TSM, approach explained in Chapter 30.
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Consequently, this section is limited to covering teamwork as it relates specifically to the promotion of
safety.
Characteristics of Effective Teams
Effective teams share several common characteristics: supportive environment, team player skills, role
clarity, clear direction, team-oriented rewards, and accountability.
Supportive Environment
The characteristics of a team-supportive environment are well known. These characteristics are as
follows:
■ Open communication
■ Constructive, nonhostile interaction
■ Mutually supportive approach to work
■ Positive, respectful climate
Team Player Skills
Team player skills are personal characteristics of individuals that make them good team players. They
include the following:
■ Honesty
■ Selflessness
■ Initiative
■ Patience
■ Resourcefulness
■ Punctuality
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■ Tolerance
■ Perseverance
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Role Clarity
On any team, different members play different roles. Consider the example of a football team. When the
offensive team is on the field, each of the 11 team members has a specific role to play. The quarterback
plays one role; the running backs, another; the receivers, another; the center, another; and the linemen,
another. Each of these roles is different but important to the team. When each of these players executes
his role effectively, the team performs well.
But what would happen if the center suddenly decided he wanted to pass the ball? What would happen if
one of the linemen suddenly decided that he wanted to run the ball? Of course, chaos would ensue. A
team cannot function if team members try to play roles that are assigned to other team members. Role
clarity means that all members understand their respective roles on the team and play those roles.
Clear Direction
What is the team’s purpose? What is the team supposed to do? What are the team’s responsibilities? These
are the types of questions that people ask when they are assigned to teams. The team’s charter should
answer such questions. The various components of a team’s charter are as follows:
1. Mission. The team’s mission statement defines its purpose and how the team fits into the larger
organization. In the case of a safety promotion team, it explains the team’s role in the organization’s
overall safety program.
2. Objectives. The team’s objectives spell out exactly what the team is supposed to accomplish in terms
of the safety program.
3. Accountability measures. The team’s accountability measures spell out how the team’s performance
will be evaluated.
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FIGURE 28–9 Sample team charter.
Figure 28–9 is an example of a team charter for the safety promotion team in a manufacturing company.
This charter clearly defines the committee’s purpose, where it fits into
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the overall organization, what it is supposed to accomplish, and how the committee’s success will be
measured.
Team-Oriented Rewards
One of the most commonly made mistakes in organizations is attempting to establish a teamwork culture
while maintaining an individual-based reward system. If teams are to function fully, the organization
must adopt team-oriented rewards, incentives, and recognition strategies. For example, teams function
best when the financial rewards of its members are tied at least partially to team performance.
Performance appraisals that contain criteria relating to team performance, in addition to individual
performance, promote teamwork. The same concept applies to recognition activities.
Accountability
There is a rule of thumb in management that says, “If you want to improve performance, measure it.”
Accountability is about being held responsible for accomplishing specific objectives or undertaking
specific actions. The most effective teams know what their responsibilities are and how their success will
be measured.
Potential Benefits of Teamwork in Promoting Safety
Teamwork can have both direct and indirect benefits for an organization. Through team-work,
counterproductive internal competition and internal politics are replaced by collaboration. When this
happens, the following types of benefits typically accrue:
■ Better understanding of safety rules and regulations
■ Visibility for safety
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■ Greater employee awareness
■ Positive, productive competition
■ Continual improvement
■ Broader employee input and acceptance
Potential Problems with Teams
Teamwork can yield important benefits, but as with any concept, there are potential problems. The most
pronounced potential problems with teams are as follows:
■ It can take a concerted effort over an extended period to mold a group into an effective team, but a
team can fall apart quickly.
■ Personnel changes are common in organizations, but personnel changes can disrupt a team and
break down team cohesiveness.
■ Participative decision making is inherent in teamwork. However, this approach to decision making
takes time, and time is often in short supply.
■ Poorly motivated and lazy employees can use a team to blend into the crowd, to avoid participation. If
one team member sees another slacking, he or she may respond in kind.
These potential problems can be prevented, of course. The first step in doing so is recognizing them. The
next step is ensuring that all team members fulfill their responsibilities to the team and to one another.
Responsibilities of Team Members
Accountability in teamwork amounts to team members fulfilling their individual responsibilities to the
team and to each other. These responsibilities are as follows:
■ Active participation in all team activities
■ Punctuality in attendance of meetings
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■ Honesty and openness toward fellow team members
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Safety Fact: Team Building through Training
The United States is the land of the rugged individualist. Even people who grow up playing team
sports learn early on about standing out as an individual or becoming the Most Valuable Player.
Consequently, employees may not be natural team players. That’s the bad news. The good news is
that with the proper training, employees can learn to be good team players. An initial teamwork
training program should cover the following topics:
■ Rationale for team training
■ Direction and understanding (team mission and objectives)
■ Characteristics of team players
■ Accountability measures
■ Team building
■ Making a concerted effort to work well with team members
■ Being a good listener for other team members
■ Being open to the ideas of others
If individual team members fulfill these responsibilities to each other and the team, the potential
problems with teams can be overcome, and the benefits of teamwork can be fully realized. It is important
for members of the safety team to understand these responsibilities, accept them, and set an example of
fulfilling them. If this happens, the benefits to the organization will go well beyond just safety and health.
PERSUASION AS A PROMOTIONAL TOOL
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Promotion strategies relating to safety and health have one overall goal: to gain and maintain the
commitment of all personnel to working safely. In order to convince workers who are focused on
concerns that can distract them from the issue to take safety seriously, professionals in the field must be
persuasive.
There are two approaches to persuasive communication that might be used by safety and health
professionals depending on circumstances and the immediate goal of the communication:
■ Projective communication. This is an assertive approach in which you attempt to change people’s
minds, gain their commitment, move them to action, or improve their attitude. This is the approach
that comes to mind for most people when the word “persuasion” is used.
■ Receptive communication. This is a more passive approach in which you use listening more than
talking to remove barriers, elicit information, show interest in the opinions of others, and identify
hidden problems.
Each of these approaches has its more appropriate applications and each can be effective if properly
applied. The approach to use depends on the circumstances of the situation and the immediate goals of
the person who hopes to use it to persuade others. The effectiveness of the approach depends on using it
in appropriate circumstances and the skills of the person using it.
Safety and health professionals should realize that using one or the other of these approaches to persuade
workers to take safety seriously is not an either/or proposition. There will be times when the situation will
call for first one and then the other as the circumstances change during the course of a meeting or
conversation.
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Projective Communication for Persuasion
This approach is most appropriate when the immediate goal is to give out information and convince the
recipient to accept the information and take it seriously. To increase the chances that this goal will be
achieved, try the following strategies:
■ Offer the information on a personal level so that recipient can relate to it. Using personal phrases
such as “What I have learned…” or “How this worked when I tried…” will help.
■ Communicate—don’t dictate. Use phrases such as “You might think about…” or “You might want to
consider…” instead of “You must…” and “It is mandatory that you…”
■ Put the other person at ease and make a personal connection. Don’t just jump into the conversation
about safety and health issues. Begin with small talk about something the worker is interested in such
as his or her children, grandchildren, a ball game, or anything else that will help you connect before
transitioning to the topic in question.
■ Allow for give and take. Don’t just give a one-way broadcast of what you have to say. Allow for a two-
sided conversation. Talk a little, then stop and solicit questions or concerns. Deal with any feedback
you receive before relating more of what you have to say. Repeat this process several times during the
conversation.
■ Reveal all you can. There may be times when your information will be incomplete. When this is the
case, tell everything you know at the moment, and explain that you will get back to the recipient with
more complete information as soon as you have it.
Receptive Communication for Persuasion
This approach is appropriate for use when you are trying to get workers to buy into a concept and want to
identify the sources of potential resistance; gain information you don’t have; let people who are
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concerned or opposed vent; gain feedback before solidifying an idea; or defuse anger. The following
strategies will help enhance the effectiveness of this approach:
■ Listen nonjudgmentally and do not interrupt.
■ Resist the temptation to become defensive or angry—no matter how angry the recipient may be.
■ Take notes if it is necessary, but let the recipient know in advance that you plan to take notes and that
you will let him or her see everything you write down (for validation).
■ Let the recipient vent his or her frustration without interruption.
■ Ask open-ended questions for clarification when necessary.
■ Paraphrase and repeat back in summary form what the recipient tells you.
It is not enough to simply tell people what you want them to hear or do. There are simply too many
distractions in the workplace for this approach to be effective. In promoting occupational safety and
health, it is necessary to persuade workers that safety is in their best interests so that they make a willing
and voluntary commitment to the concept.
PROMOTING OFF-THE-JOB SAFETY
Organizations that have a safety-first corporate culture recognize that off-the-job safety must be an
integral part of their overall safety program. The off-the-job component of an organization’s safety
program consists of education, training, and mentoring to help employees stay safe when they are not at
work. Off-the-job safety is critical because accidents and injuries outside of work can affect an
organization’s healthcare costs, productivity, and competitiveness in the same way that on-the-job
accidents and injuries affect them. A valuable employee who is injured off the job is still just as injured
and unavailable for work as one who is hurt on the job.
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Costs of Off-the-Job Injuries and Deaths
According to the National Safety Council (NSC), people are actually safer at work than in their homes and
communities. In fact, more than 70 percent of disabling injuries occur off the job as well as 10 out of 11
unintentional fatalities. The following statistics show that off-the-job injuries and deaths are costly to
organizations in terms of lost wages, hospital and medical costs, and administrative expenses associated
with insurance:
■ Unintentional off-the-job injuries and deaths cost this country almost $225 billion annually. This
amounts to more than $800 per worker.
■ Employers lose more than 225 million days of production time due to off-the-job accidents. On-the-job
injuries account for only 80 million lost days by comparison.
■ Future lost production time resulting from off-the-job injuries is estimated to exceed 500 million days
—more than seven times the 65 million estimated for on-the-job injuries.
Off-the-Job Training Programs
The two most hazardous off-the-job situations for employees are transportation and home duties. This is
where and when most off-the-job accidents occur. Transportation-related accidents include cars, bicycles,
buses, motorcycles, trains, boats, planes, and pedestrians. Home accidents include those caused by
vehicles, firearms, machinery, tools, fire, explosion, slips, striking objects, animals, insets, fights, and
assaults. With these hazards in mind, off-the-job training programs should include at least the following
elements:
■ Fall prevention. Ladders, safety belts, cleaning up spills, maintaining adequate lighting, use of
handrails, keeping clutter off of stairs and out of entrances, installing slip and trip prevention devices
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in bathrooms and other high-risk areas.
■ Motor vehicle safety. Defensive driving, maintaining proper speeds, and special cautionary measures
for snow and rain conditions.
■ Poison prevention. Familiarity with poisons in and around the house, antidotes for specific poisons,
contacting the poison control center, and keeping medicine and poisons out of the hands of children.
■ Fire prevention. Installation of fire detectors, purchase and use of fire extinguishers, inspecting all
areas of the house and garage for fire hazards, inspecting electrical wiring and extension cords, and
planning escape routes.
■ Drowning prevention. Teaching all family members how to swim and completing a safe boating
course.
■ Electric shock. Inspecting appliances, lamps, cords, outlets and avoiding wet environments when
working with electricity. Use of fuses in the proper sizes.
■ Lifting-injuries prevention. Teaching and modeling safe lifting and carrying techniques.
The NSC provides a comprehensive off-the-job safety training program and manual that is available to its
members at nsc.org.
SUMMARY
1. A company’s safety policy should convey the following messages: (a) a company-wide commitment;
(b) expectation that employees will perform their duties in a safe manner; and (c) the company’s
commitment includes customers and the community.
2. From a legal perspective, an employer’s obligations regarding safety rules can be summarized as
follows: (a) employers must have rules that ensure a safe and healthy workplace; (b) employers must
ensure that all employees are knowledgeable about the rules; and (c) employers must ensure that
safety rules are enforced objectively and consistently.
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3. A fundamental rule of management is: If you want employees to make a commitment, involve them
from the start. This is especially important when formulating safety rules.
4. Safety training should be a fundamental part of any effort to promote safety. Safety training ensures
that employees know how to work safely, and it shows that management is committed to safety.
5. Well-run suggestion programs promote safety by (1) soliciting input from the people who are most
likely to know where hazards exist and (2) involving employees in a way that lets them feel
ownership in the safety program.
6. Safety committees can help promote safety if they are properly structured. The composition of the
committee can be a major factor in the committee’s success. The most effective committees are
composed of a broad cross-section of workers representing all departments.
7. Employee-management agreement is important in promoting safety. Fortunately, safety is an issue on
which employees and management can usually agree.
8. Incentives can promote safety if they are properly applied. To enhance the effectiveness of incentives,
the following steps should be followed: (a) define objectives, (b) lead by example, (c) develop specific
criteria, (d) make rewards meaningful, (e) keep communications clear, (f) involve employees in
planning the incentives, and (g) reward teams. However, cash incentives can create tax problems, and
poorly designed incentives can lead to injury hiding, unfair circumstances, and morale problems.
9. Competition can promote safety, but it can also get out of hand and do more harm than good. To keep
competition positive, involve employees in planning programs of competition and encourage
competition between teams rather than individuals.
10. Promotion strategies relating to safety and health have one overall goal: to gain and maintain the
commitment of all personnel to working safely. The two approaches to persuasive communication are
projective and receptive communication.
KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS
Accountability
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Commitment
Competition
Consistency
Employee involvement
Employee-management
Formal response
Immediate response
Incentives
Mission
Objectives
Objectivity
Ownership
Personal commitment Role clarity
Safety committee Safety policy
Safety rules
Safety training Suggestion programs
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What messages should a company’s safety policy convey?
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2. Explain why promoting safety by example is so important.
3. What are the employer’s obligations regarding safety rules and regulations?
4. Explain the concept of negligence as it relates to a company’s safety.
5. What is the significance of objectivity and consistency when enforcing safety rules?
6. Why is employee participation and involvement so critical in the promotion of safety?
7. If your task was to establish a safety committee, whom would you ask to serve on it?
8. List three benefits that companies gain from asking employees to sign a declaration of safety.
9. What are the steps for ensuring that incentives actually promote safety?
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