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How to Evaluate Your Safety Meetings
How to Evaluate Your Safety Meetings
- Self-evaluation. After each meeting, review it objectively. Were you well-organized? Was the group attentive? Did they ask questions and participate? How did they respond to the audiovisual components? Was the meeting the right length? Too long? Too short? Was the meeting room a good choice for the purpose?
- On-the-job evaluation. Equally important, evaluate the results back on the job. Are workers using the methods and procedures covered in the meeting? Is there an improvement in safety, a reduction in accidents?
- Participant evaluation. You may want to provide participants with anonymous questionnaires on each meeting or on the overall program. Ask what they liked and didn't like about the content, presentation, length, etc. Ask if they feel they mastered the subject, if it was applicable to them on the job, etc. (See sample in the Forms Section)
- Tests. A test is the best way to find out if the safety meeting did the job of transferring the information. (Whether it gets used is another question.) You might consider giving short written tests at the end of a session if you think your group will accept and can handle that approach. Or you might do more informal "tests" on the job several weeks after the meeting. Ask a worker to perform a procedure that you covered or to describe the key information on a label, etc.
- Cost evaluation. Put costs in a positive light. Instead of just identifying the costs of putting on the meeting, compare those costs with the costs of not having such meetings. Safety meetings can lead to demonstrable savings in such areas as workers' compensation, insurance, and lost time due to accidents, productivity, etc. Such documentation will make all parties feel better about the program.
Use all these evaluations, as well as feedback from any other supervisors, safety professionals, or managers who attended the meeting, to help you improve future safety sessions.
Take any employee criticisms seriously, but don't overdo it. The most important result is not whether participants enjoyed the safety meeting but whether the meeting improved actual on-the-job safety. It's certainly desirable to get people interested and involved, but what's most critical is to get the message across.
Once you've considered all the evaluations, decide if you want to modify the agenda of future meetings to emphasize the approaches-demonstrations, audiovisuals, etc.-that seemed to be most effective. You may also want to adjust the length of programs. If, for instance, comments suggest meetings are too long, break the next topic into two shorter segments. Finally, change your schedule to include-or remove-topics as needs emerge and change.
Putting It All to Work
Now that you know why safety meetings are so important and have guidelines to follow when you plan and conduct them, you're ready to proceed with a safety meeting program that works.
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