Why Safety Slogans Can Have a Negative Effect in the Workplace
During the course of my work, I go into many different work sites. Many of them have safety slogans posted on notice boards, in reception and sometimes on the main gate. Some businesses go even further and include their safety slogan on their letterhead and in their e-mails. They have been posted around the workplace in the hope that there will be some subliminal effect on the people at risk. If you have a safety slogan, check with a few members of the workforce to discover what they think of it. You may be surprised.
The first thing to remember about slogans on notice boards or posted up around the workplace, is that they become invisible. They become part of the landscape and do not penetrate the minds of people in the workforce. Even important signs such as “exit,” are not remembered by people who walk past them every day because their minds are engaged in other more important things.
The second thing about a slogan is that it has to be delivered by somebody with credibility. Credibility is measured by the listener. If that person’s credibility is regarded as only average or less, the message will be ignored or will be regarded as totally unimportant. There are plenty of examples of messages delivered by politicians with low credibility failing to arouse and response.
The third thing about a slogan, is firmly in the minds of the people seeing or hearing it. The slogan has to have the ability to pass our T S R test. This is a test that we all apply on a constant basis. It is our That Seems Reasonable test. Any slogan that fails that will also be ignored. If we think a slogan isn’t reasonable we will dismiss it and then ignore subsequent messages from the same person.
We have slogans like “Zero Accidents” and “Zero Harm,” that fail our TSR test because we know they are unrealistic. We know that you cannot totally exclude accidents and harm from the workplace because they are function of risk and risk is an integral part of human life. Slogans like this give rise to cynicism in the workplace and have a negative effect on a lot of other important messages that may be about safety or quality. They also destroy the credibility of the promoters of these messages which, in turn, can lead to a breakdown in workplace communications.
If your organization is trying to find a slogan to emphasize safety, offer this alternative point of view. Instead of a slogan, lead by example and be the behavior you want in other people. This is much more believable than a slogan.
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Mr. Mitchell, just found your web site and it appears it is in the spirit of safety as opposed to liability.I am a crane operator erecting iron on a school in Broken Arrow ,Okla. I work out of local 627 in Tulsa.The general contractor is Boldt Construction. There policy goes beyond OSHA in stating all operators will wear hard hats in the cranes cab. At first I was dumbfounded then I decided the best thing to do was comply,it is temporary( I hope). The operator before me didn’t like it a bit either but did comply. His cab reclined,mine does not. When I look up the adjuster on the hat hits the high back seat pushing the bill over my eyes. The next day I bring a pillow ,reclined the back of the seat to resemble a low back seat. I change headliner to wear the hat backward so the bill is not blocking my view. By this time I’m very uncomfortable and pissed. I’ve tried to discuss this with the superintendent to no avail. Any recourse or suggestions? Thanks for letting me vent, Rick Eslick
Hi Rick
Thanks for contacting me. I am sorry about the delay in responding, I have been on the road for a week. Yes! I totally agree with you. It really is dumb. The best people to decide are the people doing the job. The idiots that make these rules don’t understand human behaviour. We all have a TSR test that we apply when we encounter a rule. TSR stands for “That Seems Reasonable.” Clearly this rule fails both our TSR tests. All it does is make the authors and enforcers of the rule look especially stupid. When we encounter a rule that is designed to keep us safe and it fails our TSR test, we complain or try and avoid the rule. You don’t have to be very smart to realise that all rules should be discussed with the people they affect and win their approval then you don’t have a compliance problem. The question to ask is “What is the hazard that your hard hat is going to protect you from?” No doubt you will get a BS answer.
Good luck in your quest for common sense. It seems it is not so common
Kind regards
Peter