How to Conduct an Effective Safety Meeting

To conduct an effective safety meeting you must follow certain guidelines and procedures. You have to establish and follow an agenda. A safety meeting should cover all the benefits associated with complying with safety policies and procedures, as well as penalties for non-compliance. Prompt notification should be provided so that everyone can plan to attend. A safety meeting should include everyone affected by the information included in the meeting. Safety meetings should be interesting and entertaining and provide lots of valuable information.

Instructions

1. Send out notification to everyone expected to attend two weeks before the actual meeting; follow up with a reminder two days before the meeting. If you have a large company you may have to offer multiple sessions to make sure everyone can attend. Assign employees to specific sessions, but also let everyone know of the date and times of other sessions so that anyone not able to attend his assigned time slot may attend another session.

2. Provide the complete agenda to all employees beforehand, and encourage them to review the information before the safety meeting. Have additional copies of the agenda in the seminar or conference room on the day of the meeting for those who don't bring their copy with them.

3. Introduce yourself and have an ice-breaker, then introduce your other speakers. Explain the purpose of the meeting and what is going to be covered. Notify all in attendance of the guidelines for the meeting. Let them know if questions can be asked during the meeting or if they should be held until the end. Cover all of the rules and regulations for the meeting and how it will be conducted. A meeting that has interaction with the participants and allows them to ask questions throughout the meeting will probably be most effective.

4. Explain the reason for the meeting. Cover all important aspects of safety and how they affect everyone at the workplace. Present any statistics that can provide an overview of the company's safety record, and discuss how the safety record can be improved.

   If a consistent problem concerning safety exists, provide information about why the problem exists and how it can be eradicated. Present your solution to the problem in the form of a question. Also give everyone in attendance an opportunity to come up with solutions and suggestions regarding this safety issue as well as other safety concerns.

5. Develop a plan of action designed to help improve safety policy and procedures for everyone involved. Any changes should be incorporated into the company handbook or other written correspondence. Schedule a follow-up meeting with team leaders or supervisors instead of the entire group.

6. Gather and record all of the information discussed. All of the findings of the meeting should be summarized and addressed. All ideas, probable solutions, recommendations and suggestions should be acknowledged and addressed during the meeting to make sure no one feels slighted.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure you complete the meeting on time. Don't let participants stray from the subject matter.

References

• Successful Safety Meetings
• Guidelines for Effective Safety Meetings