They say a picture says a thousand words. Safety posters are a great way to communicate a message and reach a large number of people without actually having to speak to each individual person on a daily basis. But make sure you use them in the right way. Here are some key tips you should take note to make the most of them.
Posters can be an effective communication tool – but don’t expect them to talk on their own. Recently, in a heated debate on forklift safety at a client, the safety co-ordinator stated – “that’s why I put up those forklift posters!”, to which the production manager replied –“ what posters?”.
We aren’t talking about the Occupational Safety and Health Act poster, nor the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, we are talking about the brightly coloured interesting ones that you want to use to support your health and safety awareness programmes. Oh…you don’t have any…well what are you waiting for?
Safety Poster Tips
If you’re only using required posters then you’re missing out, as safety posters can be an effective resource to get a message across and enhance the overall safety program. Here are some tips to make the most of safety posters in the workplace.
1. Location, Location, Location!!
Your poster has to be where the action is in a relevant area.Hand washing posters should be near a sink and a PPE poster at the entrance of where PPE is required to be worn. If the poster is placed in the wrong location, the message won’t reach the right people at the right time.
2. Places, people, places.
In addition to being in a relevant area, a poster also needs to be seen and read. In order to be effective a poster should appear in a high-traffic area that will allow people to stop and see it. The canteen or a lift are two examples of areas with a lot of traffic and that allow people the time to take in the poster. Back of the toilet door too.
3. All by myself
When posters are grouped with a lot of other notices and clutter they get overlooked. Leave them up for too long and no one even sees them anymore. It’s a good idea to change your posters at least once a month to keep the messages fresh and to avoid complacency. Run a little competition with a clue in the poster – everyone will be looking at them.
4. Too many words spoil the broth
Don’t put too much text on the poster, it’s a picture because people are too lazy to read nowadays – don’t go and mess it up with words. A poster needs to get the message across as succinctly as possible. Photographs or symbols are a great way of conveying your safety message without having to write it out. Check the cultural cues as not everyone interprets things in the same way.
5. Join the dots
Why are we doing this again? Posters have to have a purpose. Whether it’s a reminder of practices that need to be followed, a reiteration of a recent safety talk, or part of a campaign, posters are a way to trigger a message that has already been delivered. It’s also important to know the audience for the poster to determine the tone of the poster (sometimes humor is not appropriate for certain safety topics) and what will get their attention.
Choose and place your posters wisely—more is not always better. Just like any communication you need to focus on what’s most important to your audience and then think about when, where and how to most effectively deliver your message to them.
Why not design your own if you can’t find one to get the message across effectively. Use posters intentionally.
Have a safety poster you want to share with us? More ideas on getting the most out of posters.
