Safety Coach
Keep the Safety Juices Flowing
At this time of year, I like to cook up an analogy involving two traditional Thanksgiving treats, apple pie and pumpkin pie. Let me explain how you can make this analogy work to enhance transportation safety at your organization or in your municipality.
In a good apple pie, the juices always are flowing and represent opportunities for safety innovation and ongoing education. A tasty pumpkin pie tends to set up more solidly and because the juices aren’t flowing can be viewed in this example as the one-and-done approach to traffic safety.
I choose apple pie because I see the benefits of keeping the juices flowing during my interactions with employers across Texas. Recently, I visited Waco and worked with Safety Coordinator Berry Bairrington and Director of Aviation Joel Martinez to build on a partnership that is every bit as scrumptious as even the most delectable dessert.
Many attractions have ramped up tourism in Waco in recent years. The city draws between 2.5 million and 3 million visitors every year. To ensure their safety, Bairrington has made use of free resources from Our Driving Concern to communicate with employers as well as visitors to Waco.
“We use Toilet Tabloids in the airport restrooms and have developed a great partnership among the three rental car agencies inside the airport, which has allowed us to communicate safe driving tips with materials provided by (Our Driving Concern),” he said. “When renting a car, customers first have the opportunity to read the safety message at the counter, then a safety card is attached to their rental contract and, then to ensure safe driving tips have been communicated, there are signs along the path to the rental car lot.”
Berry and I talk frequently about ways to connect safety dots and have scored on almost all fronts in Waco. I would be happy to help create the same kind of safety synergy in your organization or at your location. Feel free to contact me by email: [email protected] or by phone: 512-466-7383. Feel free to use our educational materials to enhance your transportation efforts, too.
- Toilet Tabloids: Print and post in your bathrooms to reach a captive audience
- Texas Rental Card Safety Checklist: Two-sided safety cards you can distribute to employees
- Posters and Tip Sheets: Download and share on social channels or in your own e-news blasts
Each one of these free resources can be likened to a piece of the safety puzzle pie. You want to keep the juices flowing.
Tailgate Talk
Safe Ride is a Great Party Favor
When it comes to a successful office party, this much can be said: If you fail to plan, then you can plan to fail. What kind of food will you serve? How about activities? Will there be games? What about music?
The best party planners make safety a priority so everyone can enjoy the spirits of the season and catch a safe ride home. Here are four tips to help you and your employees prepare for upcoming holiday events:
- Plan a safe ride before going out.
- Communicate convenient transportation alternatives: Recruit designated drivers, provide numbers for local cab companies or select a tech-savvy colleague to connect employees with ride-share service organizations (yes, there is an app for that)
- Drinks: Provide alcohol-free choices and consider serving “mocktails” so no one feels left out of the celebration
- Night watchman: Appoint someone to keep an eye out for telltale signs of inebriation and give that point person the OK to take away a co-worker’s keys, if need be, at the end of an office celebration
Last year, there were 139 fatal DUI-alcohol crashes in November and December on state roads, according to the Texas Department of Transportation, and 154 people died in those crashes. Impairment begins with the first drink. Alcohol can affect judgment and slow reaction time, skills necessary for safe driving.
Make it a plan to use these three tools to promote safety in the days and weeks leading up to your party:
- It’s a Matter of Time: Take this BAC test
- How to Be Social and Stay Alive at the Same Time: Engage employees with this e-learning module
- Choose Safety: Most adults reach 0.05 BAC after two to three drinks; at that level, crash risk is 40% greater than at zero alcohol concentration. Play this video on workplace monitors or share on your social channels.