Introduction to Fire Safety Management

Figure 4.5
Health and safety poster
Examples of opportunities to achieve all the 
benefi ts of effective face-to-face communi-
cation of safety information include:
➤
Safety tours and inspections
➤
Team 
briefi ngs
➤
Management 
meetings
➤
Tool box talks by supervisors
➤
Problem-solving 
workshops
➤
Appraisal 
interviews.
A common problem with face-to-face communication 
results from the communicator simply passing the mes-
sage without stopping to check that it has been received 
and understood. This can result in confusion and inevit-
able confl ict where the communicator thinks that they 
have passed the message, the receiver thinks that they 
have received the message but the message has been 
confused in the processing stage. To avoid the harmful 
effects of misinformation it is useful to build in a feed-
back loop, where the person receiving the information 
explains what he/she has understood.
Outputs
It is necessary for safety information to be communicated 
to external bodies. For example, certain specifi ed work-
related injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences 
must be notifi ed to the enforcers as soon as practicable 
after they occur (see Chapter 12). Other information relat-
ing to the safety performance of an organisation will need 
to be provided to insurance companies and potential cus-
tomers. In the public services, information has to be pro-
vided to governing bodies or other government agencies 
responsible for monitoring public sector performance.
It is a requirement of current UK legislation that 
employers ensure that they make arrangements with 
external services, in particular with regard to fi rst aid, 
Figure 4.4
Typical example of a fi re alarm call point notice
authority and the local offi ce of the Employment Medical 
Advisory Service (EMAS).
In addition to written material, the fl ow of informa-
tion within an organisation is supported by face-to-face 
communication. Face-to-face communication is said to 
be a ‘rich’ source of information, in that it conveys not 

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Safety culture
67
emergency medical care and rescue work. It is therefore 
necessary to communicate with those external bodies 
that will provide assistance in the case of emergencies 
including the police, fi re and ambulance services.
Further examples of information that should be 
communicated outside an organisation include:
➤
Details contained within the health and safety fi le 
produced upon completion of construction oper-
ations under CDM
➤
Hazards associated with a particular site, e.g. chem-
ical or biological risks
➤
Environmental management systems including facil-
ities for hazardous waste disposal
➤
Emergency procedure for visitors and contractors
➤
Hazard information to prospective customers as