Oregon OSHA Online Course 100

Safety and Health Management Basics

MODULE FOUR: EFFECTIVE SAFETY COMMUNICATION

Beam me up, Scotty!

In Module Three we learned about the importance of recognizing appropriate safety behaviors to improve employee involvement. In this module we'll continue learning about increasing employee involvement through effective communication: An extremely important skill to increase employee involvement in safety and health. Skilled safety communications will support leadership, at all levels, from the CEO to the employee. So, let's get started with a review of some basic communications concepts and principles.

Return to sender...

The most basic communication theory talks about the requirement for both a sender and receiver in the communication process. The characteristics of the sender and receiver may be quite different. For instance, communication may take place between two individuals, two groups, two companies, two nations, and sometime in the future...(maybe) between two worlds. Although the scope of the communications process may expand, the process still boils down to basically two people; a sender and a receiver.

The sender initiates the communication and the receiver receives, interprets, and responds to the communication. At this point the initial sender assumes the role of receiver. Where and how the process ends depends on the purpose of the communication and the dynamics of the process itself. Even the simplest communication between two individuals may be a very complicated process.

It's not what you say...it's how you say it!

Another important concept in communications is called the Two-Level Theory which states that in any communications process messages are sent and received on two levels. The first level is called the content level and describes what is sent. The only information transferred at this level is data, usually in the form of written or spoken words (symbols).

The second level of communication exists on a higher, more abstract plane. It's called the relationship level which describes the communication that establishes the relationship between the sender and the receiver. It's how the message is sent that sets up the relationship. Relationships between sender and receiver are always established with every communication.

Back to Star Trek (the original series). Captain Kirk, the Captain of the Starship Enterprise, always communicated on both the content level and relationship level, while Mr. Spock, our favorite Vulcan, tried with some difficulty to communicate only on the content level. Consequently he always appeared cool, calm, cold, and mechanical.

It's not what you say...it's how you say it!

Let's take a closer look at the dynamics of content/relationship communications:

First Scenario: Charlie Pendergast is sitting at the breakfast table reading the morning paper while his wife, Gloria is cooking up some bacon and eggs (They take turns cooking). Charlie, suddenly looks up from the paper and asks rather flirtatiously, "Oh dear, when are those eggs going to be done." Gloria is getting positive attention from Charlie and responds casually with, "Here they come now, dear," and brings Charlie a nice plate of bacon and eggs, and gives him a big kiss.

Second Scenario: Charlie Pendergast is sitting at the breakfast table, face buried in the morning paper while his wife, Gloria is cooking up some bacon and eggs. Charlie, face in paper, obviously irritated, verbally assaults Gloria with, "Oh Dear, WHEN ARE THOSE EGGS GOING TO BE DONE?!" Gloria feels hurt and unappreciated. She slowly turns, fire in her eyes, and says, "Here they come now...DEAR!" and dumps a plate full of eggs over his head, and stomps off to the bedroom.

In both cases, the content of Charlie's message was exactly the same. However, The relationship set up between the two in the second scenario differed greatly from that established in scenario number one. Consequently, Gloria gave Charlie a vastly different response in the second scenario. In the first scenario, Charlie sent a positive relationship message. In the second scenario, the relationship message was very negative. To Gloria, how Charlie sent the message had far more impact than what he said.

Here's what Barbara V. had to say about positive and negative messages:

Every time a supervisor appropriately recognizes an employee for safe work behaviors, it reinforces and makes that behavior more likely to occur in the future. It sends a very positive message, doesn't it. On the other hand, if a supervisor yells at you for "complaining," a very negative message is sent. But, I think the worst situation occurs when you are totally ignored by a supervisor. It sends a message that you are invisible, unimportant, and of little or no value. Ignoring others who are trying to communicate is the worst response possible.

A most important responsibility!

If you are a supervisor or safety committee representative, think about the relationship set up between you and your coworkers. What happens when you receive their concerns or suggestions, yet fail to immediately recognize them and provide feedback in a timely manner? Aren't you ignoring them? Again, it's the worst of all possible responses. Make sure that you get back with your coworkers as soon as possible to let them know the status of their concerns or suggestions. Positive communications is one your most important responsibilities.

A rusty latch on the suggestion box...

Over the years of presenting these courses, I've learned that most companies have not put a lot of careful thought into the design of their safety suggestion programs. Hopefully, you have an existing suggestion program that's working. How do you know your safety suggestion program is successful? If you use a suggestion box, is it crammed with suggestions or candy wrappers and the remnants of old tuna sandwiches? If your suggestion program results in fewer and fewer suggestions each month, it's a indicator shouting that your suggestion program is not working.

Again, communications is the key. If the suggestion program is failing, it means the program is (1) not designed properly and/or (2) not being implemented properly. People may not be communicating effectively, or worse yet, ignoring employees who make suggestions. If management wants a successful suggestion program, they must effectively communicate positively on both the content and relationship levels. On the content level, they can write a suggestion program plan, and inform everyone about it. On the relationship level, however, they need to respond positively to each and every suggestion employees make. That means action! It means showing appreciation through recognition and rewards, and it means acting on the suggestions offered.

Imagine, workers competing to be on the safety committee...

Are your coworkers just "dying" to be a member of the safety committee? Most likely not. Why not? They really don't perceive much benefit from it, do they. So how do we increase employee involvement in the safety committee? Well, if you want to find out...you're just going to have to take OR-OSHA 101, Safety Committee Operations. :-)

Let's Review

16. The words we speak when talking to another person represent information transferred on the _______________ of communication:

a. Content Level
b. Relationship Level
c. Sender Level
d. Receiver Level

a. Content Level
b. Relationship Level
c. Sender Level
d. Receiver Level

a. Positive comments about what was said
b. Pretending interest in what was said
c. Ignoring what was said
d. Negative comments about what was said

a. Positive behaviors are reinforced
b. Working relationships improve
c. Positive messages are sent
d. Supervisor credibility decreases

a. safety committee approval
b. recognizing every suggestion
c. suggestion forms in triplicate
d. a box

Congratulations on completing module four!

How am I communicating on the relationship level? Hopefully you can sense my "tone" in the writing. One last idea...always put a smiley ;-) at the end of your emails when you believe your message might be taken negatively. This helps ensure the receiver understands you're not yelling or upset with them. Continue on to the next module to study about hazard identification and control concepts and procedures. If you have any questions or comments, just drop me an email at email.