Posted By Sylvain_Combet Hello, Has anybody tried to put in place an "emotional campaign" along the lines of "think about your familly / loved one to know why you need to go back home safely"? I have my opinion on this sort of message but I would be very interested to know if any of you had to implement any similar experience and the lessons (good or bad) that have been learned. Basically, is it any good? Thanks

Posted By Pete48 Emotional campaigns can be---well---just too emotional. The first time they are used they can impact but they will only change behaviour if they hit home to individuals based on their own individual experience and perceptions. This generally happens at first viewing. What, for example, is the impact on someone who does not have a family to consider? I have seen hundreds over the years but only remember a few. I don't think they are any more effective in changing behaviour than any other well run safety campaign. Used without very careful thought they can be deadly.(sic)

Posted By Salus I witnessed the attendance of some fathers, mothers, sons and daughters of 3 men who had died as a result of an accident on site. They were all in black, very quiet and just laid some flowers on the edge of the site. It was absolutely awful and brought tears to my eyes. When I returned to have a walk around the site there were men working as they had been doing with total disregard for their own safety at heights of over 100m's. I do not believe that these tactics will work. What I believe works is constant safety attendance on site every day. Together with good planning, supervision and monitoring by their (contractors) own safety aware management. This does not happen on all sites but should. In this job you have got to be committed to what you believe in, stand up to those who think differently and always try be a help not a hindrance to everyone you deal with on site. You will make headway but it will be at a slow rate.

Posted By Lilian McCartney I haven't used an emotional campaign for reasons described in previous posts. However, on one occasion where I was trying to get someone to wear a safety harness whilst sampling a river - and wasn't getting anywhere - I did ask them to consider what their grandchildren would do wihtout them. This wasn't just dropped in or threatening but in a long persuasive conversation when they said that no-one would care as their children were all married with children of their own, wife had large insurance policy etc. The tone and time were correct for saying that. Wouldn't use it otherwise as it can cause more upset especially to those who already take care.

Posted By Bob Shillabeer I remember a short video produced by the French railway quite some time ago using an emotional trick to get the message across. Picture the scene, A gang of workmen doing maintenance on the track. A train approaches at speed but the men continue to work instead of moving to a place of safety. The train gets nearer and still no action by the gang then suddenly they look up to see the train a matter of feet away and dive out of the way all except for one young man. The scene instantly changes to one with the roof of a house being blown into the air with tiles flying everywhere. At the same time a young woman is fleeing from the house in tears with a small boy in one arm and an infant in the other with tiles cascading down around her. The scene changes again to a cabin in which the young man's workmates are sat with ashen faces and glum looks om thier faces not speaking to each other when the young man looks into the cabin through a window without hearing a word he is shouting at the men inside when the scene changes again and the view is of the young man's body lying in the track. When you see this for the first time its the music that goes with it that gets your emotions up and at each scene change the music changes. When the roof comes off the music goes from quite to really loed with a clash like thunder. A very impressive piece of work. I don't know if it is still available anywhere

Posted By William I work offshore and to be honest what myself and others I work with think is not very good about this. Many of us are away from our familys for at least 2 weeks and miss them and the last thing we need is some cheesy presentation making us think of home so we then go back out to work thinking of our familys and home and not thinking about the job and our safety. I would give it a miss, you want to point out that there are consequences but dont try to tug on the heart strings as all the people I have worked with dont like this approach, and I speak as someone who has had to sit through a 30 minute film of this rubbish recently.