Safe Work Procedures

by Wade Rohloff

Years ago we were asked by a company to produce Safe Work Procedures for a variety of functions in the construction industry. SWP’s are an attempt to visually illustrate work efforts and desired safeguards in a fusion of work and safety directives. We were sent documents that a safety committee had developed. Unfortunately their efforts largely consisted of safety policy with work pictures jammed in.

We could see that their idea was good but they lacked the skills for developing attractive SWP’s that communicate effectively. That takes a fusion of art and writing skills + experience with both work and deep familiarity with safety regulations/policy. Fortunately that describes our skillset. We went to work and developed six SWP’s and they were blown away by the results. These are still in use for their employees on their projects, to this day. Below is an example….

We simplified and cut the words in half originally. We also eliminated the nauseating redundancy of words inherent in the polyglot of “safety-speak” documents. Illustration is inherently redundant so, no extra words necessary. It was ironic that once we had completed and submitted our result their committee could see what they had neglected to include. Thus we were directed to add in several more issues. We did so and still showed a massive reduction in wording and pagination.

This is a picture of an efficient learning tool (pun intended).