Originally published in the early days of the Sentech Services Blog, this article has been updated to include a few more pointers!
Keeping employees safe in the workplace requires a great deal of effort on behalf of employers and employees alike. The first step toward promoting safety in the workplace is providing education, a crucial element that will help expand employee knowledge of proper safety procedures and handling of equipment. Companies may need to bring in third-party safety experts to hold these workshops, especially if the company is specialized in a field that uses industrial equipment or heavy machinery. An outside service that provides workshops also adds variety to employee experience, a factor that may decrease the monotony experienced in most work-related meetings.
Organizing a fun and informative safety workshop for employees can be a challenge for most employers; however, it isn’t impossible. Here are some tips for putting together a workshop that employees will love:
Create a Sense of Community Among Peers.
Have you ever participated in a learning exercise where you felt isolated or like you you were doing it by yourself despite being around others doing the exact same thing? People, most people, have a desire to engage when being engaged with. By turning previously solitary exercises into group activities or partner based activities, your are more likely to retain the attention of participants.
Challenge Participants to See Old Information in New Ways.
Want to lose someone’s attention. Tell them something they already know. There’s a good chance your employees have been through safety seminars or classes in the past and have heard the same information – over and over. Find a new and exciting way to engage with that information. Whether it’s a new an inventive way of presenting it or simply by changing up the setting of the “Classroom” – do whatever you can to retain group attention.
Be Present.
As much as you want your audience to engage with or at the very least, pay attention, it’s is equally important that you remain engaged with the content and the safety tips. If you don’t seem eager to present the information, your audience will be as disinterested as you.
Have Separate Workshops for Each Department.
While it is true that each department in a business works together to accomplish a single goal for the company, each department also has a singular point of focus and expertise. A meeting covering general safety tips, or one that speaks to all departments in the same meeting/workshop can be dull and uninteresting to employees. While employees wait for their department-specific safety education, they can lose attention during a workshop and come to dread future safety education classes. Companies should hold separate workshops focused solely on each department to help decrease this occurrence.
Out-of-Town Workshops.
If the company has the budget to fit in an out-of-town workshop for their employees, then they should certainly go for it. Offering the opportunity for traveling can be seen as a great benefit for some employees, especially if it is in a large, distant city. Workshops held out of town will also give employees a change of scenery and may promote a feeling of excitement and anticipation for the workshop.
Provide Hands-On Instruction.
When holding a workshop on equipment safety, employees shouldn’t just be given instructions on maintaining the safety of tools and equipment in the workplace. They should be given hands-on instruction during the course, helping to facilitate the learning process and aid in reducing time spent in future workshops.
At Sentech Services, Inc., we are motivated to provide our clients with successful tools, tips, and services necessary for creating a dynamic facility and business while increasing employee motivation and productivity. Feel free to contact us today to get to know more about our services and how we can help!