From:
Jeffrey Lewin <jclewin**At_Symbol_Here**MTU.EDU>
Subject:
Re: [DCHAS-L] Safety training swag?
Date:
Oct 24, 2022 12:54 UTC
Reply-To:
ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID:
<CAEwQnqjVevFMU9CFCNf18xkfud3sbXOvdwxMPt8N_4gXoHBXUg**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:
<5C0FDC8B-095C-4315-B5A4-E124C0F80681**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu>
Ralph,
As others chimed in, I think the first step is what are you trying to accomplish with the swag?
I look around my office
- I have a couple of shelves of swag collected from conferences - most are cutesy or sport the conference name - they are fun and bring back memories, but not necessarily any "safety moments." I also have started displaying my ACS element coffee cups...mostly for fun, but it did prompt my grandchildren to sing the
Periodic Table song they learned in science class when they saw them.
- I have various pens, notepads, notebooks, sticky notes, etc. that get spread around my office, home, and work vehicle. Most either promote the groups I'm a member of (ACS, CSHEMA, CUHMMC) or various vendors I either use, or I met at a conference (or put in my conference swag bag). I'm not sure I've actually used the information on these items for a specific reason (make a vendor inquiry - frankly, I'd probably look in my phone list or simply google them for contact information) although they do make the occasional reminder that they exist. There could be some merit if the number was for "important" company/school/ local contact numbers - your EHS dept contact info, your facilities emergency dept contact number, etc. These items also might be good to promote concepts such as
RAMP.
- I also have "speaker swag" which tends to be more useful, and more expensive...but again it mostly was a reward and not really to help me to remember safety.
- Most of us now expect in this day and age of electronic communication, some version of the presentation. Some still like paper so they can make notes...but I usually avoid handing out paper for my presentations - mine tend to be interactive - I often ask the audience to list "Life's nine hazards" (Thank you Jim Kaufman) as part of my talk; I also have a presentation where we work through examples of hazard mitigation, then categorize them and rank them under the
hierarchy of controls. Neither work very well when you give them the presentation in advance.
It sounds like it would be an interesting concept to study though.
Jeff
I’m giving a presentation next week to Keene’s State upper class course on safety training.
One question that I’d like to address during the presentation is whether "safety training swag" has value. Over the years, programs I have been involved in have given away a variety of things for people to take with them after training, including:
- paper handouts of the presentation
- paper summaries of the key points of the content
- certificates of training
- lab gloves
- magnets with pithy sayings and/or key phone numbers to place on lab equipment
- opportunities to win gift certificates for food at the campus facilities
- EHS branded trinkets
Beyond food at the event itself, none of these seem to have much impact on the audience, either at the time or over the longer period. I wonder if anyone knows of any studies that have assessed the value of this practice?
Thanks for any help with this.
- Ralph
Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Environmental Safety Manager
Keene State College
603 358-2859
ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu
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Jeff Lewin
Director of Chemical Laboratory Operations
Research Integrity Office
Laboratory Operations
205 Lakeshore Center
Michigan Technological University
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