Working with people is always fun for me because everyone is different. Different in how they think and behave. Also, people have different traits, values and beliefs that shape who they are. Some traits are good, some traits are bad and some traits are ugly.
Yesterday, I was buying gas and as I was getting out of my car I noticed a couple standing over on the grass next to the sidewalk. They were both smoking and having what appeared to be a pleasant conversation.
Years ago, around the campfire, I heard this story and have told it to every troop of which I have been a Scoutmaster. Two brothers were leaving the town they had lived in for several years. They were both moving to a new town many miles away.
When safety is a personal value people naturally choose to make the safe choice. They don't need a no-texting or seat belt law. They even use hearing protection and safety glasses at home.
Recent I joined the BNSF Road Way Equipment Safety Leadership Team in Dallas, Texas. They began their meeting, as many companies do, with a safety briefing. For most meetings, I hear someone give a quick safety minute talk about a general hazard. At many meetings, the emergency exits are pointed out and actions to take are shared. BNSF went way beyond that in just about the same amount of time.
In the past 25 years, I have watched the safety profession grow. I remember listening to leaders speak of achieving zero disabling injuries. It seemed as impossible to some people then as achieving zero recordable injuries seems to many people today.
What a wonderful time I had with my wife, my daughter, my awesome son-in-law and our two grandchildren for 11 days in Orlando, Florida. We, of course, did several days at Disney World and one day with my friends at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center.
A good safety speaker pays attention to their audience. Listen to their questions and be sure to find out from them what they want to learn. I am sure you have experienced, as I have, the situation in which someone asks a question during a training session about a subject you are planning on covering later.
Let's begin with starting on time. As a safety speaker you should always start on time. No matter what the circumstances, I always start on time. It doesn't matter what's going on.