Speaking to College kids about safety.
So I have been invited back to my Alma Mater to speak to kids majoring in Construction & Construction Safety Management. This will be in 4 classes over 2 days.
I could talk on so much but was wondering what would you talk about?
I'm thinking about a topic on how to communicate to your workforce. Would would you talk on, what needs talked about to college kids?
Comments (5)
I would choose to talk about that as well - with a focus on creating buy-in from all levels of employees as a new employee and a recent graduate. It's a great topic to touch on that can impact them in any industry.
Communication and Culture Fostering. Expectations and How to manage those expectations.
There is nothing worse than to watch a new person in any field have unbridled passion and desire to change the world with out ways to manage it.
Observing and finding constructive ways to change in an environment that has existed for many years is not easily changed.
And of course being able to do that without deflating them from effecting change :D
Off the top of my head I would suggest the old "Safety is NOT #1" thing we often have heard and most of us believe. When I open OSAH Outreach Training and sometimes at new customers I hit them right off with this, "Who here believes Safety is #1?" Several hands will go up. I then hit them with this, "Safety is NOT #1 to me, because in my experience you should not make Safety a goal. Goals can change and their priority reassessed. To have a successful training program Safety has to be a value. It has to be in almost every decision we make. That consideration had to be automatic just like financial considerations." Use your own words. But that always seems to "set the hook!"
I like the idea of communication as the topic. It seems to me that university H&S programs are great for the technical stuff but communication skills (nontechnical skills in general) are just as important.
I know it's cliché but it is true that no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care. You walk on to most jobsites and start spouting regulations you will lose that workgroup.
Learn how work is performed before telling people they are doing it wrong. Tell the students to spend some time doing the job the workers do so you can understand their issues. When I was hired by Amazon as a safety specialist, the first week of onboarding was spent working in each department so I could understand how each job contributes to the whole and how the work actually gets done.