Try SMS Text Messaging For Gen Y Safety

Have you got a crew that includes a few green hands? How Baby Boomers learn and how Millenials (Gen Y) learn are completely different. Are you expecting your new hires under 25 to sit down and pour over the Safety Manual with the same enthusiasm that an older worker would?

Remember, Gen Y is the video game generation – where things have to be fast and exciting to keep their attention. A safety manual is not a riveting read. The one thing this generation does well is Text Messaging or SMS. So why not use that technology to get your safety messages through to them?

PowerPoint (aka Corporate Karaoke – that’s my trademarked term) is not a learning tool that appeals to Gen Y. But short bursts of information will get through to your younger workers. So why not set up a program of daily (or several times daily) Safety Text Messages of 145 characters or less?

Here are some samples of Text Messages you could send right now.

• “PPE check. Gloves? Hard hat? Glasses? Hearing? Got them?”
• “Stop. Look around. Find a hazard and fix it right now.”
• “Have you read the MSDS of everything you’re handling today?”
• “Got a question? Ask! Don’t prove you don’t know what you’re doing.”
• “What did you discuss at today’s tool-box meeting?”
• “What have you done to make “zero” a possibility today?”

You could also include specifics from your Safety Manual – things that are specific to the job and you can repeatedly address points that you really want to drive home.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Most young workers check their cell phones at break time. Why not have something worth saving their life waiting for them when they break? Sure, there is a cost to this program. But it’s far cheaper than the cost of bad publicity for your organization as the result of an incident. Keep all of your workers focused on the task at hand. Don’t expect the tool-box or tailgate meeting to be retained any longer than about an hour. Gen Y’s can be good workers and you can help them instill a Safety Attitude if you only figure out a way to speak to them in a way that they will listen.