Dec 1, 2022
Today, Libby is joined by
Emily Haas, a research health scientist for NIOSH, which is the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Emily earned
her PhD in Health Communications from Purdue University, and she
has become a fantastic partner with NSSGA and a great advocate for
this industry. In this episode, she shares her story about
communicating health concerns.
Episode Highlights:
- In 2004, Emily’s cousin died in a motorcycle
accident
- After realized that she didn't know how to
appropriately or accurately communicate her safety concerns to even
close family member, she wanted to learn how to communicate with
other people who were engaging in risky behaviors
- This led to study Health
Communications and
eventually conduct research
about several areas of risk communication and risk
management
- She started with motorcycle safety
specifically, but then, really started to focus on issues of
Occupational Safety and Health specifically
- Emily has learned that, to communicate
effectively, we really have to know and understand our workforce as
a collective unit, but also individually, and that what may be a
personal value to you may not be a personal value to your
employee
- She believes that the job of leaders is to know
and subsequently tailor the health and safety messages that they
share
- The blurring of boundaries between work and
personal life over the past couple years has resulted in leaders
knowing a little bit more about their employees in terms of their
unique struggles or motivators which can be helpful when trying to
understand ways to encourage adoption of a new safety program or
safety initiative
- Emily believes that now is the time to lead
boldly with that balance of empathy based on who you're talking to,
and to embrace changes that have happened the last couple of
years
- Leaders must ask themselves, “What might my
employees be receptive to and ready for in the workplace that I
maybe didn't think was possible?”
Toolbox Talk Discussion Questions:
- In this episode, Emily shares about how she
came to her career in communicating about safety. Does anyone want
to share a story about safety communication in their own
lives?
- How can we communicate about safety while using
language that the audience can easily understand?
- Do you have a story about wanting to confront
someone about a potentially unsafe practice, but not being sure how
to do it?
Quotes:
“After my cousin's death, I
really wondered what role I could have had in preventing that
accident. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that
even if I wanted to communicate with him about motorcycle safety or
risky driving, I really didn't know what to say.”
“I wanted to learn how to
communicate with other people who were engaging in risky
behaviors.”
“Over the years, one of the
things I've experienced is really the value of a different mantra,
which is: I wanted to avoid telling people what to think, but
rather what to think about.”
“Now's the time to lead boldly
with that balance of empathy based on who you're talking to, and
embrace changes that have happened the last couple of
years.”
“What might your employees be
receptive to and ready for in the workplace that you maybe didn't
think was possible?”
“I think the message is really
good, not just that we need to communicate about safety, but the
‘how we do it’, and even more importantly, ‘how it's landing on
someone’. That piece really is a critical part of the
puzzle.”
Links:
National Stone, Sand & Gravel
Association website