In order for a SHEQ system to be effective within a business, it must enjoy full support from the organisation’s executive leadership.  Site Safety assist  in creating lasting SHE awareness and buy-in of employees by creating a pervasive SHE training programme that is highly visual to employees by focusing on the following key areas:

• Obtaining management support

With management, stress the financial impact and legal liability. Emphasize the productivity gains attained by reducing SHE-related downtime as well as the financial losses that can result from claims and downtown. “You can add at least three zeroes to any financial settlement resulting from an SHE accident if you can’t show that you had a training program.”

• Targeting the SHE training

Should you offer the same training to the admin staff as you do to manufacturing staff? Training should focus on the specific vulnerabilities faced by different users.

• Consistent, frequent and on-going awareness

SHE awareness training shouldn’t be a “once and it’s done” exercise. Training should be offered annually, at a minimum, and preferably every quarter. The best approach is to see a different SHE message every week. “You want to build a culture around awareness.”

• Presentation that makes lasting impressions

Make a lasting impression. Use different means, media and methods to converge. Think outside of the box.

• Answering the “but why” questions and allocating responsibility

Even with stories of high-profile accidents and incidents in the headlines of mainstream media publications, users may not feel their own safety and health is at risk. You need to illustrate, preferably through examples targeted to the audience, how the lack of awareness could end up costing the company and the employee.

• Showing specific examples of no-nos

Instead of just telling users what to do, show them what it look like when it is done incorrectly. Show slides and “highlight the bad stuff,” A video is even better than slides. Again, target these presentations to your users.

• Make it easy to comply

Visual signage and allocated routes, to control movement and unauthorised access etc. No thinking or interpretation required, just doing what is safe and correct.

• Maintain the right attitude

“You are further educating educated people” who unlike you are not experts in SHE, “Don’t call them stupid, or make them feel stupid.” Facilitate the training; let them provide the correct methods, safe work procedures.

• Use the right metrics to gauge the effectiveness of training.

Provide feedback tickets for an idea of how well training is working. You can expect to see an increase in reporting of concerns. Display posters, both before and after covering the topic in training. The number of incidents should decline following training. Even better, you may see an increase in reporting their concerns to supervisors.

• Effective Change Management

Change management entails thoughtful planning and sensitive implementation, and above all, consultation with, and involvement of, the people affected by the changes. If you force change on people normally problems arise. Change must be realistic, achievable and measurable.