Posted By Des Daly
Pete,

We did have an in house Health and Safety newsletter that was initially produced bi-annually. I spent many hours compiling the articles. I found, however, that after the first 2 issues I began to run out of ideas. Also, feedback from the newsletter was zero - It seemed that employees screwed them up ( we attached to pay advice slips) without bothering to read them. We then decided to include other articles - news of contracts, people getting married and even a buy/sell feature. Feed back from this approach just as bad. I actually went to site one day and found a bundle of them that were sent out the previuos week dumped in a skip - unread. The effort expended in producing the newsletters was really a total waste.
I am required now to produce a newsletter quarterly. But knowing that it is not read makes writing it a real bind. My advice is not to bother unless you have a well developed safety culture.

Posted By Jenny Hennin
Guess my response falls in between the 2 you've had. I "try" and do one every 2 months. Just an A4 sheet, with information about forthcoming training, audits; perhaps reminders about consulting safety reps, reporting accidents. But it is time consuming and difficult to keep it interesting (and we all know how fascintating H&S is!!) - the only comment I had was from one of our non-execs who thought it was good but suggested examples of good practice/good news; again, time consuming,

cheers, Jenny

Posted By Jane Blunt
I produce a single sheet of A4 approximately every two months. It takes me about a day to produce one. The topics are usually inspired by something that has just happened, and they are usually single theme sheets (e.g. mercury, fire, electricity). You can see examples at http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk.../hands/flashes/index.htm

I have a database of everyone in my department (about 700 people), which I print out. I print about 40 copies, and glue about 20 names into the circulation box of each copy, with the invitation to read it, cross their name out and pass it on to the next person mentioned. This has had the rather unexpected effect of making quite a few people read it, since they are reluctant to pass it on until they have some idea what is in it.

Jane

Posted By Nigel Hammond
I am surprised by the initial negative responses you had to your newsletter question.

I think a good newsletter is an opportunity to 'sex-up' health & safety- and I havn't had lessons from Alistair Campbell!

I have been doing a one-page newsletter every two months since 1995. I've always received enthusiastic response from it. Also, far from being short of ideas, I find it difficult to choose what not to put in it.

I use much colour - different coloured titles, clear font (Arial size 10), funny clipart, three columns and I keep sentences short and in plain English - often just one sentence for each subject. It's surprising how you can get a four-page article from a journal, cut-out the waffle and summarise it in a few words. You can also get some useful snippets from safetynews.co.uk

I don't send the newsletter to every employee - this would be costly for coloured bulletins - instead they go to managers to put on their noticeboards. In my last job, where we had an intranet - I used to put it on there with an e-mail link.

I block aside two days in my diary every two months to do this. I do it at home - so I do not get distracted. It sometimes takes me three days to write - but it's well worth it - if it raises the profile of health & safety to 1000's of employees and managers.

I don't find time or inclination to read journals and internet articles as they land on my desk or PC. Instead, I collect them and go through them when I do the newsletter - scooping up good articles.

Be creative - don't let the sceptics put you off!