Engaging with Employees About Workplace Safety

With October being Safe Work Month across Australia, in this article, we discuss ways to help you with engaging with employees around the topic of health and safety.

The Importance of Employee Engagement

As an employer, to satisfy your responsibilities and obligations you need to continuously be engaging with employees about health and safety in the workplace. Everyone needs to always be kept up to date with and made aware of any workplace risks and safety management processes.

Engaging with Employees About Health and Safety

Below we share our top 5 tips for engaging with employees about your workplace safety initiatives.

1. Everyone learns at their own pace

Each individual will differ when it comes to their attention spans and ability to absorb information. Sitting people in a room together for an hour or two and making them do a refresher course on the new safety procedures may not be the most effective way of presenting your safety training.

It is been reported that 58% of employees prefer to learn at their own pace. This is likely due to the fact that it gives them the ability to absorb the information at the ideal rate for them. Providing employees with an employee-lead approach to your safety training lets them absorb it at their own pace.

Now you just need to keep it interesting.

2. Use interactive and hands-on training techniques

LinkedIn studies show that 68% of employees prefer to learn or train on the job. For most people, sitting and listening to someone present on the new workplace health and safety procedures will quickly become boring and disengaging.

Present the information to your employees in an engaging way, getting them involved in the learning process as much as possible. Online learning courses and gamification are great techniques to get people immersed in the learning experience.

3. Provide regular updates about workplace safety

You should have a simple and easy way of keeping your employees up to date with updates to your safety policies and procedures and regularly reminding them of the health and safety resources that are available to them.

Communication and transparency are key.

In the occurrence of an incident or near miss, audit your processes, make any required improvements, and then provide employee training immediately after.

4. Provide positive feedback when things are done correctly

Research shows that 44% of Gen Z employees would spend more time learning or training if they receive recognition from their managers, compared to 21% of boomers.

Providing your employees with positive feedback will encourage them to continue and develop their investment in upholding an optimal workplace safety culture.

5. Proactively listen to your employees

Encourage your employees to be invested in identifying risks and hazards within the workplace, and to bring them to your attention. They are your eyes on the ground, and they are the people whose safety is your responsibility.

If they don’t feel safe, do something about it! If they ask for training, arrange it. If they observe and report an unidentified risk, praise them and thank them for protecting you and the other workers.

Workplace Safety Inspection

QSM Group offers a complimentary workplace safety inspection to organisations based in Western Australia. Click here to learn more.