Why don’t employees remember what is covered in safety training? Business owners express frustration when faced with the obvious fact that employees are not getting it. I have heard lawyers say documentation is so important, because employees will not remember having received training when being interviewed by an OSHA Compliance Officer or a lawyer as part of a deposition.

As a trainer and consultant, I am responsible to communicate safety practices effectively. The learning objective is to have employees consistently put the practices they learn to use. When that is not happening, there is a serious disconnect that must be addressed.

Have you ever noticed with new TV advertisements that a brand will often start with a longer ad and then shorten it as time goes on. The shorter message reinforces the message they expect was heard in the longer ad. Content can be reduced as repetition enables the message to sink in. Communicating safety practices is no different. The message must be clear, it must be memorable and it must be repeated often.

Stay tuned for our next blog when we will discuss a common safety strategy and why it often fails.