Why Engage a Safety Speaker?
Ok so I asked myself this the other day…
What benefit would I have got from listening to someone share the story of their accident, or of someone close to them?
And I came up with the following reasons…
1. I’m the sort of person that needs a REASON to do anything, I need to know what I’ll get from any action I take. i.e. eat food = feel satisfied, drink beer = get drunk, go fishing = catch a fish etc…. so if someone had visited my workplace & shared their experience with me it would have given me a reason to wear PPE, follow procedures.
A Safety Speaker can give people a reason.
2. I never ever thought about what it would be like to get hurt! During my working career before I got hurt I had a few people that I worked with that had accidents. I never knew any of these people well enough to visit them at home or in hospital, so I never saw the impact that their injury had on them. I didn’t see the lawn growing high because they couldn’t cut it, I didn’t see the blown lightbulbs they can’t change!
A Safety Speaker can share this information with people.
3. Most workplaces thrive on gossip & talking about a particular topic, whether it’s footy, politics, sport. Imagine a group of employees sitting around saying “I wonder if he can do this?” or “I wonder how he does that?” All relating back to the fact that if the accident had not have happened he would still be able to do these things!
A Safety Speaker can give people a topic for discussion.
4. The opportunity to ask questions. How often do you get the opportunity to ask someone that has been injured, or the family of someone killed a question that you have always wanted to ask. Most Safety Speakers would rather you ask & hear their explanation, than not ask & go away wondering!
A Safety Speaker wants to answer your questions.
5. Because it works. Since I started visiting workplaces & sharing my story I have received 7 or 8 individual letters, phone calls or emails explaining that my message has prevented someone from getting hurt or killed!
So these would be my reasons to have listened to a Safety Speaker.
What are you waiting for….
James Wood
Workplace Accident Victim
www.cnbsafe.com.au
