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Distributing Safety Videos to Employees
4,405 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2013 and 112 worker fatalities. “Businesses spend about $170 billion a year in workplace injuries and illnesses.”
According to the New York State Department Transportation, in 2004 90% of all workplace incidents are preventable by someone at the employee, supervisor, manager and/or corporate level.
Hiring freelance Video Producers and Directors of Photography (DPs) to create safety content for your business will save your organization time, convenience, money, and future fatalities.
Whether in your break room or supplies closet, every office has a poster plastered on its wall: the identifiable illustrations of figures acting out safety hazards and avoidance practices – posters so trite we often overlook them as though they are part of the décor.
Instructional videos are an engaging and paperless alternative to office safety training. Updating safety training videos to match the current media climate and your particular organization’s needs, will provide your trainees with more engaging, interesting and even entertaining content
Gone are the days of rolling out a VHS player to play generalized safety videos as the only training option. Though many have not yet caught on, internal communications departments are starting to look for more updated and engaging tactics (such as social media and other e-learning platforms) to distribute policies and training material in order to cut costs, increase retention of said policies and increase efficiency. Cost and ease of use are pushing employers to engage employees on their own mobile devices.
In addition to a visual aid, producing your own safety video on location can help your company avoid expenses such as booking training facilities; travel costs for employees or trainers; plus employee time away from the job are greatly reduced.
IBM saved $200 million in 1999, providing five times the learning at one–third the cost of previous methods just by changing traditional training methods to e-learning. Ernst & Young also reduced their training costs by 35 percent by using a blended training method of web-based and classroom learning. Safety videos uploaded onto these e-learning platforms save costs and add an element of interactivity for employees, helping them retain information after video viewing.
In an interview with Robyn Zlotkin, Executive Vice President of Arbill, an award-winning safety products and services provider that has been making safety a priority for workplaces everywhere for over 65 years, cited the best way to prevent workplace injuries is by investing in comprehensive programs. “Workplaces that establish safety and health management systems can reduce their injury and illness costs by 20-40%.”
By including video in that program, you provide trainees with visually specific practices for injury prevention. “High quality digital videography’s images visually communicate exactly how a task must be performed or how it was performed.”
Incorporating a safety video specifically designed to your organization’s needs, avoids challenges of content being insufficiently covered or technically inaccurate or just too generic. According to Thomas Ouimet of OEHS2 (Occupational and Environmental Health & Safety Solutions), employees tend to be far more interested and attentive when watching themselves or their peers on the screen when they recognize their work environment. “No longer do EH&S professionals need to be satisfied with video-based training materials that are too generic, do not sufficiently cover a topic, or are technically inaccurate,” said Ouimet. Internally produced video can incorporate site-specific practices, images and messages from local employees and management better tailoring to its targeted audience.
ThyssenKrupp’s Safety Video for example uses in-house members and organization specific images to demonstrate safety practices: https://www.dropbox.com/s/csa0iyun77cew2f/2%20TK%20H%26S_trailer.mp4?dl=0
By 2014, 36% of the work-force will be made of millennials, with 75% of the world’s populace having access to mobile devices. With technological innovations allowing for engaging devices at our finger tips, distribution tactics are easier to use than ever. Whether it’s an online database through your intranet or interactive application associated with your company rolling out the VHS player does not need to be the only way you prepare your employees and new hires for safety training and practices.
“It is Arbill’s belief that over time, we will see more companies test new technology such as video conferencing to reach and influence their workers in and out of the workplace,” said Zlotkin.
According to the Future of Internal Communications:
- More than 4 in 5 companies have not found a way to implement a technology solution to digitally communicate with their employees.
- 3 in 5 companies allow employees to access company content using their own personal device.
- ½ of employers will require employees to supply their own device for work purposes by 2017.
Using social media for distribution can save your organization time and money, in addition to bridging the gap in communication for incoming “Digital Natives” joining your team. NavexGlobal has listed some key considerations for distribution options when using social media to promote ethical practices.
- “Invite employees to submit videos regarding ethics and compliance topics. For example ask employees (and even business partners) to submit nominations for people they work with those behaviors/actions demonstrate high levels of integrity…”
- “…Share the submissions on a company intranet”
- “Create compliance videos (or use short form training videos like NAVEX Global’s Bursts) that employees can share with each other.”
Here are some examples of great safety training videos via workplacesafeteyexperts.com:
Guest Blogger
April Smith
Production and Marketing Intern (Spring 2015)
Crews Control
Has your company produced a safety video that reduced training time and costs? Let us know! We would love to share the link – connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or in the comments below.
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