Hard-hitting campaign cuts workplace injuries (From Wharfedale Observer)

Hard-hitting campaign cuts workplace injuries

7:00am Monday 10th September 2012 in Local news By Jonathan Redhead, Ilkley/Otley Reporter

An engineering and facilities services firm says it has reduced accidents to an all-time low with a hard-hitting safety campaign.

Bosses at Ilkley-based NG Bailey have turned to shock statistics and graphic images to get a safety message across to its 3,000 staff and teams of sub-contractor nationwide.

The tactics – which mirror the anti-smoking warning photos found on cigarette packets – are proving a success, with the company witnessing an 18 per cent year-on-year reduction in health and safety incidents.

Stuart Mortimer, the firm’s director of safety, health, environment and quality, said the idea for the posters, left, was born out of a determination to guard against complacency.

“After a lot of hard work, NG Bailey – in common with our industry as a whole – is seeing a consistent decline in the number of workplace accidents,” he added.

“Against this backdrop, the challenge for all of us now is to ensure important safety messages stay at the forefront of everyone’s mind, and to explore new ideas for achieving this.

“Our new approach was designed to be topical, eye-catching, thought-provoking and – above all – memorable. The posters were unveiled as an antidote to traditional safety campaigns, which often fall into the trap of being hackneyed, tired and merely a ‘tick box’ exercise.”

The initial poster campaign was based around key dates in the year, which staff and sub-contractors across the business could identify with – a child’s birthday, a summer holiday, Mother’s Day and Christmas.

The posters were distributed across all offices and sites, and were replaced seasonally every three months as part of a rolling update programme to keep the campaign fresh.