Every organization should conduct safety meetings at regular intervals to discuss the health and safety measures in the workplace. The following article lists some relevant safety topics for meetings as well as ways to select topics and conduct safety meetings. Read on…
Realizing the importance of keeping their employees satisfied and motivated, organizations today take a number of steps such as offering the employees perks, bonuses, conducting special days and events or taking their employees for free holidays once in a while. All these are a means for the organization to show that they care for their employees. Ensuring workplace safety is another way by which organizations show their care and concern for the employees.
Effective safety measures in the workplace help save lives and prevent occupational hazards. Many organizations, nowadays, have started safety programs and policies for the health and safety of the employees. These programs ensure that employees are adequately trained in various areas like safe use of equipment, work methods and any other issues required for the welfare of employees. Usually, organizations conduct meetings on a monthly basis for their employees, as a part of these safety programs. The employer must also ascertain that all safety rules and regulations are followed by the employees. For this the organization can come up with relevant topics that can benefit the employees, both personally and professionally.
Selecting Safety Topics
When it comes to selecting office safety topics, there are two things that should be taken into consideration. Firstly, the safety meeting topics should be relevant to the industry. For example, conducting driving safety classes for employees of a car rental company makes sense. But the same classes for people working in a software company might not be so useful. The second criteria while selecting topics is that they should be well-timed.
For example, if a topic like safety tips during vacations is selected around the holiday season, it will be much more relevant than having this topic discussed at any other time of the year. Thus the topics chosen for safety meetings should be relevant and timely. Below are some examples of topics which make for an interesting and useful discussion during safety meetings. Note that some of these topics are specific only to certain types of jobs.
List of Workplace Safety Topics
- Why is safety important in the workplace?
- Care for your health: Diet and Exercise
- Winter/summer safety guidelines
- First aid kit
- Hazards at work
- How to deal with disgruntled colleagues
- Weather safety tips
- Fire safety guidelines
- Use of fire extinguisher
- Tips to protect eyes
- Safety regulations in the workplace
- Fire Alarms: What to do
- Electric safety tips
- Tips to lift heavy objects
- Safety topics related to some national or local emergency
There could be job specific topics too such as, safety guidelines for a lab technician, safety guidelines for a security guard, etc. Besides these, there are some jobs that require the employees to work in risky situations. This is especially true for industrial workers. Such employees should be taught by way of meetings, how to be safe in each and every production or industrial process they are a part of. Meetings should be conducted on topics such as “Safe use of power tools”, “Construction safety tips”, “Glass safety tips”, etc.
Conducting Safety Meetings
It is often seen that meetings about safety in the workplace are boring and are not taken seriously by the employees. Without employee cooperation and awareness, safety measures cannot be successfully implemented in the workplace. The following suggestions can help conduct safety meetings in an effective way:
- Plan the meeting well in advance and conduct it at a time that is suitable for most employees.
- To build the interest of employees, show them some catchy video or give them a well-written handout prior to the meeting, which is relevant to the topic.
- Having live demonstrations involving the employees or calling some expert speakers are some other ways of conducting the meeting effectively.
- Encourage and motivate your employees to share their experiences (if any), when they have come across a hazardous situation in the workplace. This will create an environment where employees will report any such incidents in the workplace and will also abide by the safety rules.
- While implementing safe work practices in the workplace, involve your employees in the process and ask for their ideas and suggestions.
- Encourage them to come up with solutions about how to prevent injuries at work, or how an accident that has occurred could have been prevented. If you create a work culture where employee suggestions are appreciated, they will respond positively.
- As a rule, such meetings should not last beyond half an hour. At the end of the meeting, a question/answer session should be conducted so that the employees can clarify their doubts regarding the topic discussed.
By choosing relevant safety topics and conducting the session in an interesting manner, organizations can encourage their employees to learn some really useful safety tips. To ensure application of these safety guidelines by their employees, organizations should make them a part of the yearly appraisals and increments. After all, if the employees feel secure in their workplace, their productivity will also be significantly increased.