Who says safety training has to be boring? Safety training should be anything but boring – if you want it to stick, that is.
After all, safety training is central to building a strong safety culture. It nurtures employee engagement, which is exactly what you need to ensure employee participation.
But to get employee engagement, you have to show them their role in safety and how it applies to their day-to-day work. Workplace safety games are a great place to start. Here are three to try with your team.
Interactive Lesson Plans
When we think of safety training techniques, we usually think of an EHS manager standing at the front of the room, teaching a bored room of employees. This game flips the script.
Instead of drilling a lesson, have employees teach themselves (and each other) a lesson. Split your group into teams and ask each team to create their own lesson plans to teach the rest of the team. You can give them a topic to make sure they don’t overlap.
This should be an all-out experience. As them to design an interactive lesson to teach their colleagues, preferably one that’s relevant to them. For example, if you’re splitting manufacturing line workers into groups, have them each cover safety topics relative to line work.
Safety Survivor
No, we’re not talking about recreating Survivor at work, but you’re certainly welcome to try (safely, of course).
In this game, you’ll need to split your attendees into at least two teams. Then, challenge them to a series of “survival station” activities.
For example, identify every item in a first aid kit (take everything out of the packaging first). Or maybe a personal protective equipment (PPE) “drill” to see who can put on their PPE fastest (correctly, of course). Or see which team can correctly fill out an incident investigation report for a provided accident scenario.
Each team will receive a token after completing a survival station. The team that completes their stations the fastest wins the game.
Safety: The Musical
We’re not talking about a Broadway production, but it’s still a great way to make your safety lessons memorable.
See, the reason Broadway musicals stick in people’s heads is because they rely on catchy tunes. That tune sticks in someone’s head faster than any rote lesson. So why not use that to your advantage?
To play this game, split your group into teams and give each team a safety emergency. Their job is to make a song about the emergency. Bonus points for creating a great melody as well! The most popular song wins the game.
Using Workplace Safety Games in Your Training
We know that workplace safety training is no small task. That’s why workplace safety games are such a great tool to reinforce learning. They make safety fun and help employees engage with the material in a meaningful way.
Need more great safety resources to share with your employees? Make sure to check out our blog for more tips, like this collection of essential workplace safety articles.
Featured Resource: Workplace Safety Jeopardy Game Template
