From White Noise to Tumble Weeds: Tailoring Safety Messages Effectively

Effective safety communication is a delicate balancing act.

At one end, there's the risk of overwhelming employees with constant safety messages. This approach creates a ‘white noise’ effect.

At the other end, there's the danger of not communicating enough, which leads to a perception that safety is less important than productivity. This approach creates a ‘tumble weeds’ effect.

Recent studies highlight the impact of these extremes.

A survey of healthcare workers in the US revealed that 65% felt overwhelmed by safety communications. Communication oversaturation diminished these workers' perceptions of safety climate and left them feeling exhausted and dissatisfied with their jobs.

Also, a study done in the Australian construction industry found that a mere 3% of supervisors’ communications related specifically to health and safety, which fostered a climate of production over safety.

These studies highlight the need to tailor safety communications to the needs of your workers.

A recent study by Dr. Tristan Casey in collaboration with Protech highlighted four ways that leaders can improve their safety communication. The study involved over 1,800 labour hire workers across Australia, and included construction, manufacturing, transportation, and utilities industries.

The four effective safety communication behaviours shown by leaders included:

1.??????? Being Approachable: Employees feel comfortable asking questions and voicing concerns. Approachability is strongly related to trust in the leader; if you are approachable, they are more likely to trust you.

2.??????? Making Safety Personal: Explain why safety is important, highlighting real-life implications and benefits. Personal stories and examples can make safety messages more relatable and impactful. This behaviour contributed to a strong and positive safety climate.

3.??????? Active Listening: Encourage two-way conversations. Listening to employees' concerns and suggestions makes them feel valued and improves safety practices. Active listening skills increase workers speaking up behaviours.

4.??????? Being Authentic: Be honest about safety by admitting when you don’t know the answer and need your team’s support. When leaders are genuine and authentic, it reinforces the safety climate and builds trust.

These four safety communication behaviours are especially important for middle managers. Supervisors play a crucial role in cascading management’s safety messages to frontline workers. Supervisors also act as a conduit between the frontline and senior leadership, creating a valuable feedback loop from the blunt end to the sharp end, creating a self-sustaining information flow.

Want to improve your safety communication?

Reflect on these questions, or take them back to your team to discuss:

·?What safety communication issues do you think your organisation has? How do these issues affect people's thinking and behaviour?

·??How do you ensure a consistent message across all employee groups including contractor groups?

·??What is one strength about your own safety communication and one area you would like to improve on and develop more?