Safety Briefings

still using the same old grey TOOLBOX TALK?

Inductions, tool box talks and safety briefings, are an important method of getting the message across about health, safety, processes, and any other issues that impact on the working patterns of you and your team on-site.

Many of us have attended tool box talks, inductions and/or safety briefings in our working careers. Can you recall the last briefing you gave that engaged your team and you knew they understood what was expected when leaving the briefing? With a little planning and consideration for the following elements you could add greater impact to your briefing, delivering focussed and clear messages to your team.

First impressions count:

Don’t start your session with, “OK let’s get through this so we can get back to work”. As this statement tells your team that the information to follow is not important. The first image this gives them is that we’re doing this just to say we’ve done it. Be enthusiastic and deliver a clear message. This will show the importance of health and safety standards on-site, and that you value their safety.

Know your audience:

It’s important to have it clear in your mind to whom these messages are for. Do they have any needs to enable them to better understand messages you are delivering? For example, if English is not your workers’ first language then think carefully about how to get your message across. Also, the relevance of the message to the audience is important, briefing the workers who may be new to the team will be different to those who already know the key safety protocols.

Keep it simple and be consistent with your messages:

It is so important to use short, straightforward, simple words and phrases. Avoid slang words, jargon and acronyms’, these add nothing to your message and can become distracting. Have one or two clear points, anymore than three and the message can be lost and your team’s recall of key points will be poorer.

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Demonstrate respect:

Listen to what your workers have to say, and show them that you are listening through your body language. Obvious examples are, don’t have your arms crossed and look the team in the eyes. Consider, if you are sitting down, is it behind a desk? Does this put another barrier between you and your team, does it make them think that you are just giving them information and the formality of the setting impacts on the message? Listen actively, if you are asked a question but it is not clear, ask them to give you an example and relay it back to them to show that you’ve understood.

Think about the tone of your voice:

It’s an old adage, you’ll have heard before, “It’s not what you say but how you say it”, speaking in a quiet voice will switch the audience off to your message as it’s too difficult to hear. Furthermore, a quiet voice may give the impression that you are not confident in what you are saying. Conversely, a booming voice is as distracting and intimidating to the audience closest to you. Your audience are more likely to listen if you vary the tone of your voice.

Think about the pace of your delivery:

It’s natural to rush, however it is important to slow down, take your time. The pace of your delivery directly impacts on how the audience is taking the information in. Too quick a delivery and the audience will switch off and not listen. Too slow and it’s distracting and the audience will again switch off. Also remember to keep your head up, talking to the floor only makes you look nervous, and your voice will not be heard well. Finally, take pauses; a constant stream of words from you doesn’t help your audience. Pausing allows them to catch up, digest the information and give them the opening to ask questions.

Use open questions to check understanding:

Ask your listeners to run through their understanding of what you have said. If you ask ‘Do you understand?’ people tend to say ‘yes’ even when they mean ‘no’. A good example of an open question to ask is, “Explain back to me how we’re going to…....”, this checks their understanding and gives you a chance to correct any misunderstandings.

Some people may need more explanation than others:

If the message doesn’t seem to be getting through to some of your team, don’t keep trying the same method of delivery. Some team members may understand better if you deliver the briefing in the context of the actual work environment. ‘Show and tell’ is a tried and tested method. Check understanding by using other audience members to relay the information back, ask open questions of the audience members that haven’t grasped the information. Give yourself plenty of time. If you rush you may come across as impatient or not interested, and listeners may not feel able to ask you any questions.

Keep it positive:

Remember the first point mentioned, “OK let’s get through this so we can get back to work” – that is not being positive. The way you come across, that is your body language and your delivery of a message, all needs to be in a positive manner. This will enthuse and give permission to the team to think of that message as a positive, and important. Also, focus on what workers can do to create a healthy and safe working environment instead of what can go wrong.

Act on feedback:

If your audience tell you they are confused about something, or you failed to catch their attention, use this to help you see what you can do differently. Remember, at every tool box talk or safety briefing, it is important to make sure your workers know that if at any time they consider they are working in an unsafe way, that puts themselves or others at risk, they can STOP, report and seek advice!

This article is based on the HSE framework available online