All businesses send employee health and safety communication but what percentage of employees actually read those communications? Half? A quarter? All of them? No matter what percentage of employees are reading and understanding your message, if it's less than 100 percent, it isn't good enough. Work towards perfection by following these simple tips to improve employee safety communication.
Don't Assume Employees Get the Message
One mistake that many businesses make is assuming that employees are using the same communication tools as management. While it may be second nature to check your business email when you walk into the office, a front-line worker may only browse their emails once a week, if ever. Employee safety communications need to reach their intended recipient and a great place to start is to track how your staff are receiving information.
Whether it's a simple poll asking employees where they get the most recent company policy updates or a management team project to determine how individual teams are communicating, identifying how information is currently being transmitted is a must. Once you've determined how employees receive information, you can choose to either retrain employees on your preferred means of communication or tailor future messages to reach employees through currently used means. Regardless, if you want to improve employee safety communication, you need to make sure employees are actually getting the message.
Track Receipt of Your Employee Health and Safety Communication
Even sharp-eyed employees miss information. Maybe they don't see an afterthought at the bottom of an email or maybe they lose focus during a meeting but the outcome is still the same - they don't receive desperately needed information. While an organization can't guarantee employees understand the minutia of each employee health and safety communication, you can ensure they understand the overarching concepts.
Before computers, this was simply done by requesting employees sign their name or initials on employee wellness communication. Today, that same theory can be used in online modules and quizzes to ensure that not only are employees receiving the message but that they also understand the main points of that message. Tracking the receipt of your information and ensuring competency is a very basic but effective way to improve the percentage of employees receiving safety communication.
Engage Your Management
Managers know how important it is for employees to receive up-to-date employee health and safety communication but often the process bypasses them altogether. While your human resource department may develop communications, managers can play an integral part of ensuring that each employee receives the information and education necessary. Human resources or your quality management team may not have the resources to track who received education on employee safety communication. Management teams provide a great way to divvy up the responsibility of relaying information and ensuring that even new or per diem employees receive it.
Ensuring that employees receive all safety related communication isn't just a compliance issue, it's a safety and liability issue. You need your employees to receive timely and up-to-date information on safety and health for their own benefit. By conducting an honest assessment of how employees are receiving information, ensuring that receiving information is trackable and interactive, and engaging management to help ensure all employees receive safety communications, businesses can vastly improve the percentage of employees reading health and safety communications.
