Safety Motivational Speakers April 24th Newsletter – by Safety Speaker John Drebinger

Have you ever considered yourself a safety motivational speaker? Some people think safety motivational speakers are only people like me who you bring in for a special meeting or occasion. The reality is every person who shares a story, teaches a safety concept, or trains people the safe way to do a task is a safety motivational speaker.

What Challenges Do You Face As A Safety Motivational Speaker?

Every person who stands in front of others to give a presentation wants to be effective and get results. The challenge is most people were never trained as a speaker. I am sure I would not be able to do your job without training. Likewise, to be one of the effective safety motivational speakers in the workplace you need to get training.

Some of the things that training will help you with are:

- How to overcome a fear of speaking,

- How to tell a story effectively,

- How to keep an audience’s attention,

- How do you finish on time,

- How do you get audience participation,

- How to use creativity, and

- How to make topics relevant.

How to be Motivational

The challenge is when you are called on to do a safety presentation or tailgate meeting even though you might have the technical knowledge of the job and even the safety information that will protect your fellow workers, you might not have the speaking skills and confidence to communicate them effectively.

Speaking or presenting is much more than just giving people information. In fact, you and I both know that many times when someone is injured, they knew the safe way to do the task. They just chose not to do it the safest way possible. They did not have the proper motivation to get results. The great news is it is possible to learn the skills of giving an effective safety talk.

The solution! Check out my Dynamic Presentations Institute (Click Here For Information). For three, fun, content-packed days, I will give you the skills you need to effectively convey a message that gets results. Giving people the facts about how to work safely isn’t enough unless you include the motivational reasons why they would want to make use of what you have taught them.

Safety Meeting Topics Help #4

Do you use specialized vehicles in your operation? Then you might consider a vehicle “rodeo.” When I was the safety speaker at Waste Management’s national event many years ago, they had gathered to compete in their annual garbage truck rodeo. I am sure they had a more elegant term for it but that is what I remembered.

They had a route to negotiate and they had to accomplish several tasks safely in order to get the maximum points.

You could set up a forklift rodeo. Imagine a course where the operator would have to move materials and do the types of jobs they would do everyday. Once again, involve as many people as possible as judges, score keepers, etc..

Safety Meeting Topics Help #3

I was a safety speaker at PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station and after going through security, we were in their large meeting room. I was the scheduled safety speaker for that year’s safety kickoff meeting. They always put on a great show with several different presentations during the day. As we walked into the meeting room, I saw scaffolding set up as a stage and a “runway” similar to what you would expect to see at a fashion show.

They opened the meeting with one of the most creative things I had ever seen. An announcer welcomed everyone to the first annual Personal Protective Equipment fashion show. Worker after worker came out on the catwalk and was introduced as they “modeled” a particular type of PPE. It was fabulous how each of them took on the stopping and posing fashion models do. The audience was cheering them on and having a great time.

They even had a humorous entry as one guy came out in surf shorts, flip flops and a t-shirt. His eye protection was sunglasses and he held a pole you would use in one of the hazardous areas of the plant. Obviously, he was the example of what not to do.

I can assure you when those employees got home they were telling family and friends al about it. Not only were they learning the message they were spreading it to others.

Safety Meeting Topics Help #2

I am sure you have flown someplace in your lifetime. Remember the safety briefing the flight attendants do before take off?  Next safety meeting, have your safety team members stand in the aisle of your meeting room and have some one give the briefing  as they make all the motions just like the flight attendants. Instead of the airplane safety procedures, substitute your policies and procedures.

You can do it humorously as some flight attendants do or you can just play it straight. Either way, people are watching to see what is next.

Remember, if you want to be an effective safety speaker, make safety fun and interesting.

Safety Meeting Topics Help #1

How to find and develop great safety stories that teach a point. Every member of your team can be a successful safety speaker. All they need is a good story and my experience tells me that they already have some great ones.

Get your safety team, leadership, or any group you can gather together. I would recommend giving everyone a pad of paper and pens or pencils.

Plan ahead and have one or two people with whom you have pre-arranged who can tell a story when the time comes. Get everyone sitting around a table or in a circle and tell them you want to find out how many safety stories people in your group know. They can be anything that tells of an experience that relates to safety. Don’t worry if the story has a point at this time. The first task is to elicit as many stories as possible. Use your two pre-arranged people to get the ball rolling. Ask each person to tell a safety story they have heard or that has happened to them.

Once you get started, be sure to take notes. If you believe it won’t keep people from sharing making a recording of the session is useful. You must get permission to record them so keep it on the up and up. In some states, such as California, it is actually illegal to record someone without their knowledge. Remind them the only purpose of the recording is to be able to review it later to look for key points that it teaches.

Make sure you are taking great notes. Record the person’s name for each story and the general topic or working title you want to use.  Also, at this point, only positive feedback is appropriate since you want to encourage participation.

Encourage people to write down additional story ideas as they listen to others. That way when one person finishes their mind won’t go blank. Just a key word or idea will remind them of the story they want to share. Keep going until you run out of time. It is unlikely you will run out of stories if your people have a lot of experience.

Remember to include safety stories from off the job. Safety motivational speakers learn to use many different events to teach safety.

I wonder how many great safety stories there are in your workplace?