Workplace Injury - It Can Hurt You in More Ways Than You Realise
09 November, 2007
The Office of the Occupational Health and Safety Commissioner has formed a strategic partnership with the Office of Regulatory Services to deliver a community education program that will see workplace safety a topic of discussion within families and between friends.
The traditional model of workplace safety relies on employers and supervisors setting the agenda for workplace safety by enacting safe practices and installing approved equipment. The education program developed through the partnership will highlight the role that every person has in contributing to workplace safety.
Experience has shown that in many areas, including workplace safety, prohibitive and prescriptive messages frequently fail to hit the mark with target audiences. These types of messages do not engage or connect with the audience and, by failing in both these areas, they do not convert people to the desired behaviours.
Two television advertisements and a series of radio advertisements have been developed that take a completely different approach. Using the tagline 'Workplace injury - it can hurt you in more ways than you realise', these ads draw on emotional responses to highlight the consequences of a workplace accident.
The TV ads use a family situation to graphically convey that the physical injuries are only one of the adverse outcomes of a workplace accident. The disruption to the normal activities of a family is shown to be as painful and hurtful as any physical injury.
It is also anticipated that the advertisements will raise the importance of workplace safety to a broader and younger audience.
These ads will connect and resonate with young people in a way that prescriptive and prohibitive instructions will not. It is intended that the ads will be so effective that they will actually equip young people with an awareness of workplace safety well before they become members of the workforce.
(http://www.ors.act.gov.au/pdfs/Newsletters/ORS_E-News_07-Oct.pdf)