YIPEE! ANOTHER IDEA WINNER !

Congratulations Carmen Shafer from Marietta you are now a Safety & Health Meeting/Promotion Idea Winner!

Idea winners get a Box of Fun! filled with all kinds of cool items like a Yodeling Pickle, Finger Puppets or a Free-Loader Fork!  

If you'd like to win your very own Box of Fun! then send me richard@makesafetyfun.com an idea about how you have made your safety & health meetings or promotions more fun and innovative.

Now, on to Carmen's fun idea:

INCIDENT REPORTING  

I held a 30-Hour OSHA training class for the senior HS students at one of our local career centers and included an accident investigation activity as part of the class. 

I printed off accident details from published Fatal Facts sheets, minus the original investigator's findings and recommendations.  I split the class into "company"  groups of four students. Each student represented a part of the company: CEO, Supervisor, Injured worker, witness etc. Then I had them conduct an investigation based on the facts presented in the "Fatal Facts Sheet." They had to develop their findings and recommendations, then the "CEO" acting as company spokesperson had to deliver a statement to the "Media." 

Three students who were not on any of the teams were the media. They worked the room trying to get juicy information for their newscasts and the "public" (the rest of the class) as well as summarize their findings. The "media" also gave their version of the report based on what they picked up from the various groups.   

In this way, they practiced crisis management, communication, and incident management techniques and put together everything they had learned through the 30-hour class.  The students had a lot of fun with the activity, particularly the "media". 

Myth: You should never wake a sleepwalker.

Fact:  There's no reason not to wake a sleepwalker. This superstition comes from the old belief that a sleepwalker's spirit leaves the body and might not make it back if the person wakes up.

*      *      *

Myth: In the Old West, the reason pioneers circled their wagons was to protect against Indian raids.

Fact: When they did circle the wagons, mostly at night, it was mainly to keep livestock in. 

*      *      *

Myth: Human blood is blue until it's exposed to the air.

Fact: Oxygenated blood is always bright red; deoxygenated blood is dark red. An optical effect caused by the way light penetrates through the skin makes human veins (and blood) appear to be blue.

Myth: For every cockroach you see in your house, there are 10 you didn't see.

Fact: According to studies conducted by the Insects Affecting Man and Animals Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number is closer to 1,000 to 1.

SAFETY STUFF SONG

Though Rebekah Freed from Bemis Healthcare Packaging song lyrics didn't win the "Safety & Health Song Parody" contest I held to celebrate Safety Stuff's 15th anniversary, I still want to share them with you. Thank you Rebekah--your lyrics put a great big smile on my face!

I just turned fifteen; you may have heard

Not bad for an e-zine, spreading the safety word

Over 550 issues of Safety Stuff

It's nearly all fun, and very little fluff

I'm your resource; I'm your guide

Follow my tips and you won't have to hide

Showing safety is great and keeping it light

Yodeling pickles will help show you I'm right

Safety Stuff is written by me, Richard Hawk

Bring me onsite and your employees will gawk

If you need safety ideas, they're a click away

Sign up to get Safety Stuff in your inbox today!

RESPONSE FROM MY DUBAI TALK

Hi Michele,

Things are fine here. Thank you.

Yes, I spoke to the client. They are very happy about the keynote speech by Richard. And the audience feedback is flawless.

I'm sure we will work together again.

Best,

Atul

If you'd like the same kind of results at your next convention or employee day (or are looking for ways to improve your safety & health culture) contact Michele Lucia: 214.543.0844 michele@makesafetyfun.com 

Here's a link if you'd like to see yours truly in action:

http://www.makesafetyfun.com/video.html 

The link below is from the Ontario Ministry of Labour site. The Ministry holds an annual "Student Video Contest." The theme for 2015 is "It's Your Job." You can check out this year's winners and winning videos from previous years. It's worth checking out. Some of the videos are thought-provoking and well done. I especially like "Rewind" from Trenton High School. 

http://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/contest/ 

Safety professionals who attend my "Create a Vibrant Safety Culture" seminar are asked to write down on an index card one workplace problem they wish I'll help them overcome. By a large margin, the most common wish is "To get employees to participate more in our safety program, especially during safety meetings," or something similar.

When you can't get a response during a safety meeting, or when hardly anybody participates in a safety campaign, you can be left feeling drained of inspiration. I've had safety professionals tell me they've quit working at a company because of a "no-participation" culture. It made them miserable.

Here's a link to the rest of the article in Safety and Health Magazine: 

http://ow.ly/NPuof

If you prefer, here's a link to the my podcast based on the article which includes more details about the topic:

http://ow.ly/NPvY4