Importance of Knowing Employees’ Names in Workplace Safety

OHS practitioners, lend me your ears!

Do you know that, as an OHS practitioner, your success lies not only in your technical expertise but also in your ability to build and nurture trusting relationships and strong workplace alliances with coworkers from other departments?

In today’s newsletter, let’s discover one simple yet powerful tip OHS practitioners can use to build and nurture trusting relationships and strong workplace alliances.

Establishing and nurturing trusting relationships and strong workplace alliances is essential for influencing shop floor employees and ultimately convincing them to embrace plantwide safety initiatives.

There are many ways this can be done. One simple way is to learn the names of as many employees as possible.

Many people have heard the famous quotation by Dale Carnegie “Remember that a person’s name is to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language”.

Almost everyone likes being recognized by name. It helps bring down communication barriers. This results in benefits to your safety program. Based on my experience, successful OHS practitioners can walk through a plant and personally greet everyone on the floor by name.

During a conversation with shop floor employees’, when using their names, it helps you in so many ways:

  1. You can personalize a conversation and it will make the employee feel special
  2. It’s respectful and shop floor employees will be more inclined to accept you and connect with you
  3. When the conversation feels a lot more inviting, shop floor employees will be inclined to open up

Now that we know why it is important to remember names, what can we do to make it easier? Here are a few tips:

  • Eat lunch from time to time with the shop floor employees. By doing so, you will build rapport, know them (to a certain degree) at a personal level. More importantly, transform each lunchtime moment into an informal mini safety tool box or mini safety meeting session
  • While on the shop floor, make it a point to greet people by names and engage in casual conversations and actively listen to their experience.

As an OHS practitioner, to be successful, you must build rapport and trusting relationships. Building rapport and trusting relationships strengthens your credibility, increases your likeability factor and makes it easier to sell your safety related ideas and initiatives. It all starts by learning people’s name

Now, my friend, it’s time for you to take action.

I want you to ask yourself…

What will you do with your newfound knowledge?