One hundred safety professionals responded to our latest Reader Panel survey and a big majority, or 83 per cent, says staff meetings are their preferred avenue for communicating their safety policies, programs and procedures to workers. The more personal or one-on-one conversation is the second most utilized approach, cited by 75 per cent of our respondents.

“I believe that most videos are truly ineffective without discussion around what has been watched. In my opinion, the picture might be worth a thousand words but the words are different for most and the real message is often lost to individual interpretation. Brochures and pamphlets go mostly unread and safety posters may work on first sight, but are ignored thereafter,” says one respondent.

Another reader comments: “It would be nice to talk one-on one to employees as most employees do not ask questions in a group setting. Therefore you don’t always know that the message was clearly understood.”

Holding meetings once a month to talk about safety with the employees is the norm for 37 per cent of our reader survey respondents. Some safety meetings are held more frequently, with 27 per cent saying they talk to employees about safety on a daily basis before work begins.

Safety posters (57 per cent), videos (35 per cent) and brochures (35 per cent) are also among the more popular mode of information dissemination.

Asked about budget allocation, 70 percent of our respondents indicated between one and 10 per cent of their budget are allocated to spending on communication-related initiatives. Eighteen per cent say communication spending is between 11 and 20 per cent of their OHS budget.

With budget constraints, however, many of our respondents say they either have no formal, set budget for OHS initiatives or it’s integrated into the company’s HR or other programs.

“I am in the unusual position of not knowing what the budget is for OHS, so I have no idea if anything is allocated- – that doesn’t mean I don’t communicate I just don’t know what the percentage is,” says one reader.

Interestingly, only 26 per cent can rate that their method of communicating safety as “highly effective”. Most of our readers (66 per cent) rank their communication tools only as “somewhat effective”.

Other challenges might be a contributing factor, says one respondent. “Not everyone is hearing the safety message, perhaps due to language differences.”

“There is difficulty reaching 20 per cent of our employees due to language barriers. We use interpreters, but no way to judge what their understanding is.”

Another suggests, “The message has to be delivered in a form that is relevant to them and understandable by them. Sometimes if the message is delivered by senior management without having these goals in mind, the message is lost.”

More than half (56 per cent) of our reader panel responders, however, seem satisfied with the way their organization is allocating resources to safety communication. Less than a third however, or 31 per cent, say their company isn’t spending enough on communication initiative to promote safety in the workplace.

A reader comments about some of the challenges they face in their organization: “With a downturn in business, it is difficult to assemble the men for training. The few that remain are needed for production, and scheduled training time is difficult.”