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Restroom postings: an effective means of communicating safety
Restroom postings: An effective means of communicating safety
By Allan Bayless
R
estroom postings, affectionately referred to as “potty postings,” have been used at Procter and Gamble’s Health Care Research Center for two years. These are safety messages fastened to the inside of the stall doors where they can be easily read from the “porcelain throne.” This method has proven to be a very effective way to distribute safety messages. Several other P&G research locations have also started posting messages, and this article summarizes the collective experiences of the different sites. The beauty of this approach is you can send out large numbers of safety messages that actually get read. If you change messages weekly, that’s 52 messages per year. I try to change messages every ten days, which translates to 35 messages per year. It’s a less hectic schedule than putting out a new message each week, and a longer interval increases the percentage of employees that will see the message. Often people will take an entire week off for vacation, and will miss the message if it is posted only during that week. What would happen if you emailed 35 to 52 safety messages per year to all your employees? Could you even dream of them being read? I would guess that safety messages are viewed by many as just another form of junk mail cluttering up their e-mail
Allan Bayless is a Chemical Hygiene Officer at the Procter & Gamble Health Care Research Center, Cincinnati, Ohio . 22
boxes, and the delete key is readily at hand to wreak its damage. My personal suspicion is that safety e-mail is deleted by many, gets a quick perusal by many others, and is studied by few. On the other hand, messages posted in the stalls provide reading material at a time that some of us find otherwise rather boring. Time is available for a leisurely and studied reading. While I have no true idea what the percent of readership level is, I continue to receive a lot of positive feedback on the postings, which leads me to believe the number is high. Initially some people felt this was an invasion by safety of their last bastion of privacy, but this attitude has almost entirely disappeared and most now look forward to seeing new messages. There are some limitations though. While the postings are almost guaranteed to be seen by the female portion of the population at least once a day, the percentage readership in the rest of the population is less certain. Therefore, messages that absolutely must be seen by everyone (e.g., for a legal reason) need to be distributed directly or in another manner. Although messages could be posted over the urinals as is done in some stores and restaurants, I have chosen not to do that as my messages tend to be too wordy. Another limitation of this form of communication is that it is not good for urgent messages that have to be gotten out immediately, such as an announcement of an electrical shutdown in the evening. How do you get started? First get management to agree to such a system. Tell them of the experiences here at P&G. Show them several good ex-
© Division of Chemical Health and Safety of the American Chemical Society Published by Elsevier Science Inc.
amples of the messages you would be placing. One of my favorites that was also popular with employees is about the unknown toxicity of many chemicals. It discusses the innocent look of MPTP and thalidomide, both chemicals that were found by accident to have quite harmful properties. That posting is reproduced in the accompanying figure. You might do the postings on a trial basis, just taping the memos to the stall doors. If management buys into the idea, go with plastic sheet holders that are fastened to the doors; these are available through office supply stores. Have them installed on the doors at or below eye level (the same height as for computer monitors). Be sure to give specific directions to the people putting them up. State exactly how high they should be (example, 42 inches from floor to top of sheet holder, on the inside of the door directly in front of the toilet). If your directions are not absolutely clear, you might be surprised at where the holders get installed. Who actually posts the messages? You could do it yourself at a time when the restrooms aren’t used, or have someone of the other sex to help do the posting. At my location, I have the night cleaning crew do the job. It’s important to have several postings written in advance so you aren’t pressured to come up with something on the spur of the moment. Keep a folder of ideas of things that you want to write about someday. Whenever you come across interesting information on the internet or encounter out-
1074-9098/01/$20.00 PII S1074-9098(01)00260-X
Policy on safety glasses, goggles, lab coats, gloves, and other PPE. Evacuation policy and procedures. Messages on personal responsibility. Safety reminders on issues that need working on. Road safety tips, such as winter driving tips. Home safety stories and tips about children. Weather safety: tornados, hurricanes, lightning, earthquakes. Educational articles on the hazards of specific chemicals and biologicals. How to read an MSDS. Safety humor. (See for example: www.osh.net/html/humor.htm) How to address safety issues and concerns. Safety reference books in your library. Safety items in your stockroom. Guidelines on glove usage. Ergonomics: proper posture, lifting, etc.
ages in your safety program, put them in the folder. When things are slow, write a safety message about them. Solicit safety stories from your employees. Tell employees the stories can be posted anonymously if they prefer. Consider holding a contest for the best story turned in during a month or year. The most popular messages are reports of fires, accidents, and other mishaps; least popular are messages detailing safety policies.
Some subjects that you might write about are: Reports of accidents, injuries, near misses, both at work and at home. Things that have gone wrong in the lab: fires, floods, spills, reactions gone wild. Results of laboratory inspections. Excerpts from your Chemical Hygiene Plan and other safety manuals.
Chemical Health & Safety, November/December 2001
As to appearance, I recommend Ariel as a clean, easy to read font. Use size 14 bold font as the minimum size, but larger is even better if you don’t have too much text. Pictures are great when appropriate, and a bit of humor is always appreciated. I have a collection of 40 postings on a 3 1/2 inch computer disk I distributed at the April 2001 Division of Chemical Health and Safety symposium at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Diego. Anyone who would like a copy can e-mail me at bayless.av@ pg.com (note there are two ”dots“ in the address). Provide your full postal mailing address. Currently this material is also available on the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety web page, (http://chas.cehs. siu.edu/archive/presentations/2001-1/ default.htm). Scroll down to talk number 12, which links to a zip file.
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By Allan Bayless
R
estroom postings, affectionately referred to as “potty postings,” have been used at Procter and Gamble’s Health Care Research Center for two years. These are safety messages fastened to the inside of the stall doors where they can be easily read from the “porcelain throne.” This method has proven to be a very effective way to distribute safety messages. Several other P&G research locations have also started posting messages, and this article summarizes the collective experiences of the different sites. The beauty of this approach is you can send out large numbers of safety messages that actually get read. If you change messages weekly, that’s 52 messages per year. I try to change messages every ten days, which translates to 35 messages per year. It’s a less hectic schedule than putting out a new message each week, and a longer interval increases the percentage of employees that will see the message. Often people will take an entire week off for vacation, and will miss the message if it is posted only during that week. What would happen if you emailed 35 to 52 safety messages per year to all your employees? Could you even dream of them being read? I would guess that safety messages are viewed by many as just another form of junk mail cluttering up their e-mail
Allan Bayless is a Chemical Hygiene Officer at the Procter & Gamble Health Care Research Center, Cincinnati, Ohio . 22
boxes, and the delete key is readily at hand to wreak its damage. My personal suspicion is that safety e-mail is deleted by many, gets a quick perusal by many others, and is studied by few. On the other hand, messages posted in the stalls provide reading material at a time that some of us find otherwise rather boring. Time is available for a leisurely and studied reading. While I have no true idea what the percent of readership level is, I continue to receive a lot of positive feedback on the postings, which leads me to believe the number is high. Initially some people felt this was an invasion by safety of their last bastion of privacy, but this attitude has almost entirely disappeared and most now look forward to seeing new messages. There are some limitations though. While the postings are almost guaranteed to be seen by the female portion of the population at least once a day, the percentage readership in the rest of the population is less certain. Therefore, messages that absolutely must be seen by everyone (e.g., for a legal reason) need to be distributed directly or in another manner. Although messages could be posted over the urinals as is done in some stores and restaurants, I have chosen not to do that as my messages tend to be too wordy. Another limitation of this form of communication is that it is not good for urgent messages that have to be gotten out immediately, such as an announcement of an electrical shutdown in the evening. How do you get started? First get management to agree to such a system. Tell them of the experiences here at P&G. Show them several good ex-
© Division of Chemical Health and Safety of the American Chemical Society Published by Elsevier Science Inc.
amples of the messages you would be placing. One of my favorites that was also popular with employees is about the unknown toxicity of many chemicals. It discusses the innocent look of MPTP and thalidomide, both chemicals that were found by accident to have quite harmful properties. That posting is reproduced in the accompanying figure. You might do the postings on a trial basis, just taping the memos to the stall doors. If management buys into the idea, go with plastic sheet holders that are fastened to the doors; these are available through office supply stores. Have them installed on the doors at or below eye level (the same height as for computer monitors). Be sure to give specific directions to the people putting them up. State exactly how high they should be (example, 42 inches from floor to top of sheet holder, on the inside of the door directly in front of the toilet). If your directions are not absolutely clear, you might be surprised at where the holders get installed. Who actually posts the messages? You could do it yourself at a time when the restrooms aren’t used, or have someone of the other sex to help do the posting. At my location, I have the night cleaning crew do the job. It’s important to have several postings written in advance so you aren’t pressured to come up with something on the spur of the moment. Keep a folder of ideas of things that you want to write about someday. Whenever you come across interesting information on the internet or encounter out-
1074-9098/01/$20.00 PII S1074-9098(01)00260-X
Policy on safety glasses, goggles, lab coats, gloves, and other PPE. Evacuation policy and procedures. Messages on personal responsibility. Safety reminders on issues that need working on. Road safety tips, such as winter driving tips. Home safety stories and tips about children. Weather safety: tornados, hurricanes, lightning, earthquakes. Educational articles on the hazards of specific chemicals and biologicals. How to read an MSDS. Safety humor. (See for example: www.osh.net/html/humor.htm) How to address safety issues and concerns. Safety reference books in your library. Safety items in your stockroom. Guidelines on glove usage. Ergonomics: proper posture, lifting, etc.
ages in your safety program, put them in the folder. When things are slow, write a safety message about them. Solicit safety stories from your employees. Tell employees the stories can be posted anonymously if they prefer. Consider holding a contest for the best story turned in during a month or year. The most popular messages are reports of fires, accidents, and other mishaps; least popular are messages detailing safety policies.
Some subjects that you might write about are: Reports of accidents, injuries, near misses, both at work and at home. Things that have gone wrong in the lab: fires, floods, spills, reactions gone wild. Results of laboratory inspections. Excerpts from your Chemical Hygiene Plan and other safety manuals.
Chemical Health & Safety, November/December 2001
As to appearance, I recommend Ariel as a clean, easy to read font. Use size 14 bold font as the minimum size, but larger is even better if you don’t have too much text. Pictures are great when appropriate, and a bit of humor is always appreciated. I have a collection of 40 postings on a 3 1/2 inch computer disk I distributed at the April 2001 Division of Chemical Health and Safety symposium at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Diego. Anyone who would like a copy can e-mail me at bayless.av@ pg.com (note there are two ”dots“ in the address). Provide your full postal mailing address. Currently this material is also available on the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety web page, (http://chas.cehs. siu.edu/archive/presentations/2001-1/ default.htm). Scroll down to talk number 12, which links to a zip file.
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