Inside this issue...

-    Your labour consultant could be wasting your money…

Dear Reader,

It’s common practice to put procedures in place in your business, to ensure your employees are following the rules you believe are necessary to maintain the safety and health of your company.

But, what if writing isn’t really your forte? You know it’s your responsibility, but quite frankly you may as well not write them for all the good they’ll do because people will battle to understand them!

It’s possible you’re being a little hard on yourself. If you can answer yes to all the questions on the quick test below, your procedures pass the readability test, and there’s no need to improve them. BUT, if you say no to any of the questions, use this test to adapt your procedures so that all your employees can read and understand them. By doing this, you can ensure you’ll achieve your best efforts to promote health and safety in your workplace.

Do you pass the HSE  procedure test?

• Do you use action verbs, and write in the present tense?
• Do you use the imperative (“do it”, not “you should do it”; “it will be done” or “it should be done”)
• Do you write as though you were talking to the person doing the procedure at the time?
• Do you keep your sentences short? 
• Do you break long sentences into two or more thoughts, and make each thought a separate sentence?
• Do you avoid jargon?
• When you’re referring to technical material, such as OHSA standards, do you write in everyday language?
• Do you explain technical terms, and spell out abbreviations so that everyone understands what you mean?
• Do you keep your paragraphs short? Does each express a separate idea?
• Do you illustrate your ideas with written examples, or even with graphics?
• When using a computer, do you use desktop publishing and graphics software, which makes the document more attractive and therefore more readable?
• Do you include flowcharts, diagrams, charts, pictures or examples for visually-oriented people?
• Do you put ideas in a positive way? Do you say “Do this job this way, because it’s safer” rather than “Don’t do that, because it’s dangerous”?
• Do you keep your procedures to a reasonable length? Or do they extend over three pages?
• Do you go back to your outline? This helps you break up your long text into several manageable short procedures
• If you must keep the text in one comprehensive procedure, do you divide it into sections, clearly identified by subject and page numbers on the first page?

In the name of safety,

Christel Fouché
Editor-in-Chief: Health and Safety Advisor