Document RjqDmGe6pdvxeBb6mGo5kgr1n

MAINTAINING INTEREST IN SAFETY the British Iron and Steel Research Asso ciation. Three posters that reminded workers to hook cable slings were displayed m six plants over a period of sis weeks A sev enth plant was used as a control Tallies made m the six plants before and after display of the posters showed about an 8 per cent increase in compliance with the rule The seventh plant, in which the post ers were not used, showed a very slight de crease in compliance. Although use of the posters merely sup plemented previous training, plants that originally had the lowest rates of compli ance showed some of the best gains Use of the test posters separately, on a biweekly basis, proved slightly more effective than simultaneous use of all three posters during the entire six-week test In a survey6 conducted by a prominent casualty insurance company, over ZOO em ployees were interviewed in depth on the effectiveness of safety posters, films, and leaflets Results indicated that all the media were instrumental in bringing workers to a high level of safety awareness and that all were effective in sustaining that awareness Em ployees were found to prefer posters to leaflets, although they acknowledged the value of leaflets for more detailed coverage of, for example, "off-the-)ob safety '* Types of posters Posters available from the National Safe ty Council, insurance companies, associa tions, and other sources fall into two broad categories general and special industry (or special hazard). The general posters are concerned with such subjects as chance-talcing, disregard ing safety rules, forgetting to replace guards, and other human failures Special industry posters, as the term in dicates, have application only in specific in dustries, such as mining or logging Special hazard posters, for example on lifting, ladders, the storage or handling of flammable liquids, are useful in every indus try where the particular hazards are en countered In some cases, a hazard is so senous that a special poster is developed because of the seventy and not the frequency of exposure The National Safety Council carries ap proximately 1,000 different safety posters m stock at any one tune About IS new post ers are added each month. Subject matter is roughly m proportion to the occurrence of certain types of accidents For example, more posters are concerned with materials handling than with chemicals and gases (For illustrations of the many posters available from the National Safety Council, see Safety Posters catalog issued annually by the Council ) A survey of Council members indicated that about three-fourths of the nearly 800 respondents use a variety of poster sub jects with one-third preferring cartoons and all-industry posters Honor or shock er jiostera were least preferred The Council distributes posters ranging from pocket-size pressure-sensitized stick ers to billboard-size jumbo posters Sixtynine per cent of the respondents in the Council's poster survey preferred posters of 81k by 111k in and 17 biy 23 m size. Of these two sizes, the smaller was preferred six-to-one over die larger Fifty-four per cent of the respondents use posters to influence general attitudes, 27 per cent to cover special operations, 18 per cent, to meet special or seasonal prob lems, and 14 per cent, to promote off-thejob safety. A company can develop its own posters to deal with special hazards not covered by posters available from outside sources Even the smallest company can make an occa sional special poster inexpensively, using colored paper, crayons, or felt marking pens, to call attention to a special hazard, to commemorate the winning of a safety award, or to point up a problem not likely to be covered by a commercial poster. See Chapter 13, "Audio-Visual Aids," for details Effective posters can be made using pho tographs of local conditions or accidents, even if the situations must be posed. A common type of homemade poster is the "testimonial" showing a photo of an em ployee and a close-up of his damaged safety glasses or safety shoes, with a brief state- 0Described m National Safety News (April 1963) 7-23