Safety Slogans for the Workplace

My favorite safety slogan has always been: I expect you to leave here with the same number of fingers and toes that you came in with. I always felt this one gets the point across.

My least favorite safety slogan for the workplace is Safety is our number one priority. If that were the case then why not just pay people to stay home. That would bring workplace injuries to zero in just one day. The company might not stay in business long, but, if workplace safety was the number one priority, that would not matter as long as people were safe.

So lets get real about safety slogans for the workplace. We want slogans that will make people think about safety. We want slogans that let people know we care. We need safety slogans that people will believe.

When attempting to inspire people to work more safely you need to consider both their motivations and yours. Typically as the employer you are interested in workplace safety either due to some government or corporate regulation or because you want to save money on workers comp claims. As an employee, you are interested in doing what is required to keep your job with the least effort that will produce acceptable results.

When choosing as safety slogan for your workplace, you need to consider what is relevant to your hazards. For example a safety slogan for a hospital would be very different from a metal stamping operation. Watch out for pricks. might work well one place and have a totally different meaning in the other.

One difficulty in choosing a good safety slogan for your workplace is making the statement in a positive manner. NPL practitioners have told us for years that the subconscious mind does not hear the negative. So, if our safety slogan is dont hurt your hand, all the subconscious mind hears is hurt your hand.

Also, what ever we think about tends to expand. So if our slogan causes us to think about hand injuries, we will have more hand injuries. We need safety slogans that promote a positive thought process.

Again back to our example of hand injuries. Keep your hands safe for the things you love to do would paint a positive image. Especially if printed over a picture of a cute puppy or something else that is pleasing to touch. In the hospital setting, you could have something like Keep your pricks covered. That might not be the best phrasing but you get the idea.

Coming up with a safety slogan is easy if you just take time to look around your workplace. Look at the behavior that you wish to reinforce. Put that in the slogan. Avoid vague statements like Safety Pays. Get specific in the behavior that you want more of.
Make your workplace safety slogans relevant, funny and to the point. Coming up with new safety topics and slogans does not have to be a chore. Just look around and you will see plenty of things to focus your efforts on. Hey, safety is no accident.

For more workplace safety tips, see http://www.mikestrawbridge.com/workplace-safety-training.shtml