If you’re considering a new safety technology to implement in your workplace, you may find it to be a bit more stressful than you’d hoped. This is a pretty important decision to be making; effective safety programs save lives and money. So where do you even begin? It’s important to remember that the answer will depend on your company’s needs, but here are 5 basic tips for implementing new safety technology in the workplace.
1. Time + Effort = Success
Don’t be afraid to crunch some numbers, run audits, research how implementing a new safety technology may improve or hurt your company. The most important part of decision making is the time spent weighing the pros and cons. While you may be under some time constraint, that doesn’t mean you should make decisions without data. Make the effort to gather your data and spend time reviewing the information — a lot of people’s safety and success depend on choosing an effective technology.
2. Identify Company Goals
It will be important to understand what your company plans on achieving with a new safety technology. Does your company need a more effective training platform, like Ving, to decrease accident and injury rates? Or, is it a financial factor? Safety technologies have been changing the way companies can save money on safety training without skimping on quality. Finding out exactly what your company needs to achieve with the new technology will make choosing one a lot easier.
3. Ask Your Employees
It never hurts to find out what your employees think of new safety technologies. In fact, learning about their attitudes or hesitations about new technologies will help make sure any transition is as smooth as possible. When we talk about new safety technology, we’re not just talking about new videos or lessons, but new platforms and devices. Some employees may be unfamiliar with what new technologies exist, educating them and finding out how they feel about them can help make the choice that best suits your company. This can be done with a simple survey of your employees to test the waters.
4. Find A Technology “Champion”
When it comes to making sure your employees are comfortable with new technology, a successful strategy is finding one employee to “champion” the idea. This can be an employee who has naturally emerged as a leader within the group, or someone who is formally in charge, like a supervisor or foreman. If employees feel that they are supported by one of their own, however, they may be more receptive to whatever technology you chose to implement. This can also be an effective strategy for training. Pairing up people with different proficiency levels allows them to teach each other and is a great form of employee engagement.
5. Trendy Does not Always Equal Quality
When researching new technologies for safety training, you’ll read a lot about the newest or “trendiest” innovations for safety training. Yes, modernization should be a goal when choosing safety technology, but it’s important to remember what is new is not always what is best. Keeping in mind that this decision should be based on what’s best for your employees, research the success of others who have used modern safety technology. While VR is touted as the newest, most popular trend, it’s important to know that only 6% of companies are experimenting with the technology (source). This comes back to taking time and effort to research and understand the technologies at your disposal.
It’s not always easy being in charge of implementing change, especially when it comes to the safety of your employees. This is why it is important to take the time to research the implications of new technologies in your workplace. What benefits will your company reap? How will your employees react to new technology? These are important factors, among others, when choosing the right safety technology for your employees. Bottom line, whatever you chose make sure it is effective and the right fit for your employees.
Leave a Comment