Posted By Nicholas Morris I am looking at a campaign to raise safety awareness among the workforce. I seem to tremember a red and yellow card system from a few years ago but the details are a bit hazy. I'm sure some company used to supply these. Does anyone have any idea where I could get some from? Does anyone out there operate anything similar? If so, I'd welcome any views/ advice. Many thanks in anticipation.

Posted By The toecap Us refs use a fox 40 these days. This is a pealess whistle which is louder than the acme type. It breaks Noise regs i believe but footy players are so thick that it doesn't get through to their skulls

Posted By Healthy Debate Yep... Avoid it. We tried it at XXXXXXX (a large construction company) and here's some of the problems: > What warrants a yellow card or a red card? Good luck compiling that list! > It wasn't administered across our 35 sites with any degree of consistency. So, contractors working for us on several different sites were treated differently according to the 'flexability' of each site management team. > Even within one management team you can find inconsistent application > Once issued what are you going to do? Follow up training? Re-do site inductions? Spank them!!!? > How will you collate data from multiple sites and keep it up to date? > If someone gets a red card what's the policy to let them back (people can improve!) > Try issuing a red card to the bricklayer you've been waiting three months for. When managers are under pressure to get work done and meet targets they're hardly going to start sending people home. The comment above is spot on: try something else!

Posted By Peter Moran I'm working on a large renovation project in the City of London employing over 1000 workers where this system is installed. It also incorporates a 'Green Card' award for consistent good practice or the reporting of hazards/safety issues...there is a £250 voucher drawn every month from names entered. A red is given for any major contravention which also includes physical/verbal abuse & also entering any restricted areas on the grounds of safety/security. A yellow is issued for PPE contraventions (usually after a single verbal warning & no improvement)and method statement requirements (brakes on podium steps/locking permit-entry doors etc)....two of these and you are out. Having worked in other industries I must say that I have never seen such compliance with the rules as on this contract and with a correspondingly low accident rate. It is top-driven with commitment but also flexibility recognising where de-regulation of the 'Five-Point PPE' can be relaxed.

Posted By AJM My last company had a good system of Reporting procedure for the shop floor it got involvement and kept safety on their minds. There was 5 different colour cards they filed in (White) a risk awareness card if it was their first time for a while on the job or if they were a new starter or on a different section. (Light blue) Reporting of an Unsafe action (Dark Blue) Reporting a near miss (Green) Reporting an environmental issue (Red) Reporting of a Minor injury I wont go into too much detail but this was instilled and taught at induction and worked very well in principle as long as you action the things people pick up and the risk awareness thing was always helpful to understand the principles of risk and keep it in the forefront of peoples minds. It is always better to educate where possible and involve than pick fault. Alan

Posted By AJM Peter, I wasnt calling the red/yellow card system, just that we used a different method. Any system is only as good as the people that manage it. It sounds like you are doing just that. Especially with the positive green card side you have added to it, well done. Some people will never listen. The words you can take a horse to water but not make it drink spring immediately to mind. Alan

Posted By Nicholas Morris Many thanks for all your comments- the early ones were quite negative, but others seem to have utilised similar approaches with some success. Our situation is slightly different to those mentioned in that we have a permanent workforce (not contractors) of around 350 with about 15 keen safety reps. I am looking for a simple system to get them more involved and raise their profile within the workforce, hence the card system. Back to my original question, does anyone know if you can buy them off the shelf, if not does anyone have examples they would be so kind as to email?