Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

Introduction to Health and Safety at Work
60
4.7 
Effective communication
Many problems in health and safety arise due to poor 
communication. It is not just a problem between man-
agement and workforce – it is often a problem the other 
way or indeed at the same level within an organization. 
It arises from ambiguities or, even, accidental distortion 
of a message.
The Health and Safety (Information for Employees) 
Regulations require that the latest version of the approved 
health and safety poster be displayed prominently in the 
workplace. Additional information on these regulations is 
given in Chapter 1. 
There are three basic methods of communication in 
health and safety – verbal, written and graphic.
Verbal
communication is the most common. It is 
communication by speech or word of mouth. Verbal 
communication should only be used for relatively simple 
pieces of information or instruction. It is most commonly 
used in the workplace, during training sessions or at 
meetings.
There are several potential problems associated 
with verbal communication. The speaker needs to 
prepare the communication carefully so that there is no 
confusion about the message. It is very important that 
the recipient is encouraged to indicate their understand-
ing of the communication. There have been many cases 
of accidents occurring because a verbal instruction 
has not been understood. There are several barriers to 
this understanding from the point of view of the recipi-
ent, including language and dialect, the use of tech-
nical language and abbreviations, background noise 
and distractions, hearing problems, ambiguities in the 
message, mental weaknesses and learning disabilities, 
lack of interest and attention.
Having described some of the limitations of verbal 
communication, it does have some merits. It is less 
formal, enables an exchange of information to take place 
quickly and the message to be conveyed as near to the 
workplace as possible. Training or instructions that are 
delivered in this way are called toolbox talks and can be 
very effective.
Written
communication takes many forms from the 
simple memo to the detailed report.
A memo should contain one simple message 
and be written in straightforward and clear language. 
The title should accurately describe the contents of the 
memo. In recent years, e-mails have largely replaced 
memos since it has become a much quicker method to 
ensure that the message gets to all concerned (although 
a recent report has suggested that many people are 
becoming overwhelmed by the number of e-mails which 
they receive!). The advantage of memos and e-mails is 
that there is a record of the message after it has been 
delivered. The disadvantage is that they can be ambigu-
ous or diffi cult to understand or, indeed, lost within the 
system.
Reports are more substantial documents and cover 
a topic in greater detail. The report should contain 
a detailed account of the topic and any conclusions 
or recommendations. The main problem with reports 
is that they are often not read properly due to the time 
constraints on managers. It is important that all reports 
have a summary attached so that the reader can decide 
whether it needs to be read in detail (see Section 7.9).
The most common way in which written communi-
cation is used in the workplace is the notice board. 
For a notice board to be effective, it needs to be well 
positioned within the workplace and there needs to be 
a regular review of the notices to ensure that they are up 
to date and relevant.
There are many other examples of written communi-
cations in health and safety, such as employee 
handbooks, company codes of practice, minutes of safety 
committee meetings and health and safety procedures.
Graphic
communication is communication by the 
use of drawings, photographs or videos. It is used either 
to impart health and safety information (e.g. fi re exits) or 
health and safety propaganda. The most common forms 
of health and safety propaganda are the poster and 
the video. Both can be used very effectively as training 
aids since they can retain interest and impart a simple 
message. Their main limitation is that they can become 
out of date fairly quickly or, in the case of posters, 
become largely ignored.
There are many sources of health and safety 
information which may need to be consulted before an 
accurate communication can be made. These include 
regulations, judgments, approved codes of practice, 
guidance, British and European standards, periodicals, 
case studies and HSE publications.