Ryan With regards to recommendations for content or layout then this can vary a lot from company to company; however if your company has other news letters or handouts that follow a certain type of layout then perhaps you could base it around that. Try to keep the news letter topical, relate them to your biggest H&S issues (at least to start with); accident analysis can assist in identifying trends in accident types by frequency. Then you can state what types of accident occur most frequently and possibly remind people of the importance of any control measures in place. I would recommend trying to keep the news letter balanced by ensuring that it also includes details of positive matters (things that people are doing well) as well as areas for improvement; otherwise people will see the news letter as a gripe and over time stop bothering to read it. Also use images where possible; visuals are not only a great way of getting information across to people but can also be good attention grabbers as well (I wouldn’t use gory images though). Digital images taken from your own workplace/sites can help people relate to them, but clip art images and/or images from Google (taking care not to infringe on any copyright rules of course) can also be used as well. New letters are also a good way of getting information our regarding any upcoming in house H&S campaigns or targets to the workforce. HTH smitch

Ryan Often a cash incentive works well giving a £50 bonus for good practice or a monthly safety award, I know it may sound a bit like bribery but it does engage the work force and get them talking regarding safety. Or you could do it as a monthly competition employees can enter this also works well but keep it simple. Rob H

Hi again Ryan You may have already tried this, but just in case: Try a search on Google for "H&S news letters", you'll get more than enough samples you can have a look at. smitch

WE have company newsletters which are based on news and some h&S information Too much and they just don't get read

In my last company we produced quarterly newsletters - electronically stored on a server so I am sorry I cannot provide an example for you. We included the environment and tried to put in articles which covered topics that were of importance - changes in policies, training, a specific topic focus and where possible tailored the article to work and home life to demonstrate the importance of H&S 24/7. As said before use lots of visuals. We also introduced a word search with vouchers as a prize to assist with encouraging readership levels but also a way to monitor how many people read the newsletter and where in the organisation.

I do a monthly H&S newsletter for a number of Wildlife Trusts, it goes out to staff, managers and volunteers - I try to keep it short, in-line with what we do as an organisation and even try to add a bit of humour where I can. Personally the most important thing is to get a message across, so I don't try to be overly precise as I'm not talking to others with an interest in the technicalities of H&S - I just knock these up in word and send them out as PDF (spelling mistakes and all). If you'd like a couple as examples drop me an email. k.tomkins@staffs-wildlife.org.uk