Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1160801
W EEKLY EDITION AUGUST 21, 2019 Building a Culture of Safety Part I I : Co mm un i cat io n By Karleen Kos, PSAI Executive Director • Keep your communications simple. One safety message at a time, simply and directly stated, is more likely to be heard and understood. • Be as precise as possible. Use concrete language and examples to explain what you mean so that you leave no room for misinterpretation. • Be concise. Say only what needs to be said to get your point across. A lot of extra words will only confuse the issue. • Demonstrate when appropriate. Employees generally learn better and retain more of the safe ty information they see and hear. • Repeat your message as needed. Studies show that a safety message often needs to be repeated on several different occasions to get through to employees. Watch out for communication barriers. Numerous obstacles can cause safety - related communication to break down. For example: • If too much information is being communicated all at once, it can be hard for employees to absorb all those different messages at one time. Prioritize and focus on the most important things, then w ork your way through the list. • If your message lacks clarity, is confusing or ambiguous, what a worker actually hears might be quite different from what you intended to say. Be sure to use interactive communication – have the employee either repeat what th ey heard to you, describe how they would implement what they heard, or take a short quiz about it. If you find your communication missed the mark, clarify. • If expectations are not clearly defined, you may be unpleasantly surprised by the results. It is imp ortant to know and express what you expect to happen as a result of your communication. Then inspect what you expect – follow up to be sure your required procedures are being implemented in the field. P AGE 12 CONTINUED ON PAGE 1 3