One of the realities that safety professionals face every day is that many workers see safety training as a have to do versus want to do part of their jobs.

Safety Training should be engaging.  Most people understand that safety is important.  Especially if they have faced a hazard at work.

In addition, research shows that humor and hands-on activities are a more effective way to relay new information and skills to adults.

Here are some ideas to make safety Training engaging

• Look back at the times that you enjoyed learning technical or dull material. You can use favorite teachers or really smart shows as inspiration. How did they distill complex topics down into digestible factoids?
• Humor enhances learning. How can you find and leverage the humor in safety related topics? You can look to funny videos as inspiration.
• Keep in mind that people learn differently. Therefore, Integrate oral, visual and hands-on teaching methods.
• Try using games and quizzes to gamify the learning process. Competition can bring out the best in us and encourage active participation.  Especially when you add incentives like prizes.
• Have veterans teach newbies and mentor new hires to take over one day. The Learning Pyramid shows that we retain 5% of what we hear but 90% of what we teach to others.
• People will only retain what they put in practice. Instead of waiting for the next formal training session, encourage reinforcement by bringing up safety topics during daily meetings and on-the-job exercises.
• Safety Training will only have a lasting impact on people who immediately and consistently apply the lessons while during their everyday jobs. In addition, encourage supervisors to discuss safety in the interactions they have with their team on a daily basis.

Wombat Software wants to help make safety related information more accessible. Multiple exposures help people retain what they need to learn.  We are working on some unique ideas.  We invite you to provide us with additional inspiration on making safety training the best part of the workday.