Hi Like most H&S people, I guess, I write lots of advice and guidance stuff. Amendments to policy documents and information on what to do in an emergency etc. But do people read this stuff? I get them to return an acknowledgment form to say they’ve read it, and I go through some highlights at staff meetings regularly. I had this wheeze about putting a deliberate mistake in and giving a prize (£10 voucher) for anyone who spotted it. It’s not a typo, but something like a miss-spelling, or saying I sit on the first desk on the right, when I actually sit on the first desk on the left, and there it’s the only desk in that area anyway. (Obviously nothing significant!) I’ve had some people return their acknowledgments with lots of corrections, mostly grammatical niceties and typos. No one’s spotted my deliberate one yet (maybe too subtle). Obviously showing some people have really read it carefully. So now, have I opened myself up to another can of worms? Could it be argued that people who do not write anything in the ‘What’s the deliberate mistake’ box have not read it??? I’d have a very robust response to that suggestion of course The ‘Lead a horse to water’ aphorism comes to mind. Does anyone else have ideas to encourage people to read their stuff? Graham

Agree with Ciaran, but it is an age old problem about how do you get people to read what is put out for their benefit. Also how do you know that a person can read? I have worked with people who could not read in the rail and marine industries without initially realising that they could not read. I know of ports in the UK who print their instructions to hauliers about driving within the port in several languages but this still does not cover everybody. Take Care

Fletcher, Where I deliver induction training, I conduct a written test to prove that they understand the training. I always have a chat with the foreperson to see if there are any issues regarding to literacy with any member of the team. I have taken the lads aside later and gone through the documentation with them, asked them the questions, filled in the answers they have given me and they signed their sheet with their mark. It is imperative that everyone is treated with equal respect and their colleagues do appreciate the efforts made to accomodate them with dignity. I have also seen strikes kick off as a result of one safety officers insensitivity in dealing with a similar scenario. How the person got off the site alive beats me. He reduced a grown man to tears with his smart remarks.

Graham In response to your question: Does anyone else have ideas to encourage people to read their stuff? 1. Use images rather than words to communicate, especially on noticeboards and in magazines, where the readership is large and diverse. The scope for effective uses of images to communicate about safety and health and work is enormous and seldom very well managed. 2. Choose a monthly theme for your messages, so that you have a calendar cycle of 12 key messages, and keep to that arrangement for at least 36 months. 3. Co-operate with whoever in your firm is responsible for marketing and publcity, both to share sources of images and to enable him/her to use your safety images as the images of preference in any communications with customers, government and the public. 4. Submit an article to at least two professonal magazines at least once a year (each), with photographs illustrating how well you communicate to control high standards of safety and health at work