Writing Effective Safety Procedures -- Ep. 19

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Bridget Leathley, a freelance health and safety adviser, writer, instructional designer, trainer and auditor. She's also a Chartered Fellow with the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and an Associate Fellow with the British Psychological Society.

Bridget highlights the importance of well-written and clearly communicated safety procedures - and how they represent “quick wins” for HSE professionals.

Major safety initiatives are often unrealistic for EHS professionals due to budget restraints. However, simply assessing and improving your safety procedures can significantly improve your organization’s safety performance.

Bridget offers many practical tips (with real-life examples) on how you can write better procedures, including: starting with the safety objectives, involving co-workers, using simple language, avoiding ambiguity, and including imagery.

She shares guidance on how often EHS professionals should revisit procedures and considers the role of multi-media in current and future safety management.

Bridget is passionate about getting organizations to adopt technology to keep people safe and healthy - but explains that the needs of the audience and the task should always drive how safety procedures are presented to co-workers.

You can find out more about Bridget’s work and her company, The Safer Choice by visting:
https://thesaferchoice.co.uk/

Bridget Leathley on LinkedIn:
  / bridgetleathley  

The book recommended by Bridget:
Ahttps://www.amazon.com/Guide-Task-Ana...


Safety Labs is created by Slice, the only safety knife on the market with a finger-friendly® blade. Find us at https://www.sliceproducts.com/

If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected]

__________________________________

0:00 Intro
02:41 Why writing safety procedures is an incredibly practical subject?
05:14 Why should HSE professionals focus on the mechanics of writing safety procedures?
09:00 Ambiguous procedures
12:28 The curse of common sense
14:35 The importance of evaluating procedures
22:05 Use simple language in safety procedures
24:16 What place does imagery have in safety procedures?
28:57 Always determine what the safety procedure is trying to achieve
33:58 Are flowcharts useful in written procedures?
36:46 How often should safety professionals revisit procedures?
39:44 How can multi-media help safety procedures?
44:55 The importance of practicing emergency safety procedures
47:58 The importance of observing routine safety procedures
50:15 Approaching safety procedures with curiosity and humility
51:31 Safety regulation in the UK
55:33 The key core skills for safety professionals
1:03:48 Recommended practical resources for safety professionals