Safety Meeting Detail or Doom?

We 'collectively' don't ask for much do we?, just dedicate 30 minutes of your welcomed and personal time of attendance at the Weekly Safety Meeting. You can expect to find it stimulating, interesting and of importance to both yourself and those around you, those that you work with directly and those that may be affected by what you do...

Ordinarily, this is your free time that you are giving up. It is expected of you...but it is your free time nonetheless and having just finished shift we create the 'engagement mood' by purchasing your interest through the offer of a 'free chocky bar and a soft drink'.

...then we go and mess it up while we have you there as a captive audience. Boy oh boy...the 85 slides are ready to roll...yes 85!, and our intention is to present them on what looks like a 1960's tv in the corner of the room where you couldn't read them unless you employed the services of an American orbiting spy satellite. The overly worded slides are blurry from 5 feet away so for those at the

back of the room we are kidding ourselves aren't we. The initial sugar rush from the (sticking with the american theme) 'free soda' will wain quite quickly so soon going to be time for those heavy eyes to start closing if they haven't already...(27 minutes left to go), best of luck everyone...Brace, Brace, Brace!

I gave this blog a little of my time to work out what I feel we are missing out on, to figure out the extent of lost opportunity we appear to be embracing these days and clearly on reflection ticking off what some, even many may consider a necessary evil these days. These meetings are after all, and in most cases, prepared and undertaken after the audience have completed a shift so not as 'voluntary an attendance' as I often incorrectly indicate by 'thanking everyone for coming'. My simple equation is this...

3,120 collective hours of opportunity to convey, impart, encourage and stimulate and I am sorry to say we don't do well at it, and we ain't getting better at it..we typically fail to take full advantage and we don't hit the targets we would like to so we have to get better at it.

For those that are in a position to affect change and have the ability to steer an improved and more worthwhile standard for the Safety Meetings...please do so. Believe me when I tell you that it's sometimes as equally hard to present it as it is to sit through it. Allow a certain latitude for those presenting the content to design the format and delivery of the presentation materials. For those of us doing the delivery, lets each remember...drop all the wording, pictures speak a thousand words so use them, know your subject matter, interact the content with your audience and imagine being one of them and having to listen to your content and its delivery.

For those that present at the forums...well done to you. Keep aiming high and don't settle for less than you can best achieve. For those that attend...thank you for doing so. The meetings are yours and imagine them as a 2-way street so you have a constructive say opportunity each time you attend and feedback is always welcomed.

3,000+ hours of quality detailed safety focus can make the difference

'safety is never a compromise'