THE MARLIN POINT OF VIEW

5 PROVEN
STRATEGIES FOR
IMPROVING
WORKPLACE
SAFETY
WITH DIGITAL
SIGNAGE
 What is good communication?
Good communication is at the heart of creating and sustaining
safety culture change. Defining what needs to be communicated
is often easier than how.
Safety managers can readily access a culture of safety. It is particularly
CHAPTERS
safety analytics to determine where effective for shift workers in manufac-
they need to focus to improve safety turing, distribution and transportation
Introduction
performance. Getting employees to markets where employees do not have
understand and embrace behavior that access to computers or smartphones.
Get Clear on Your will drive safety performance is much
Objectives With hundreds of digital signage provid-
more difficult. Most safety professionals
are experts at occupational safety, not ers to choose from, it’s often confus-
Understanding workplace communication. ing as to what will work best for your
Your Attitude unique needs. This guide highlights what
Digital signage is a powerful visual com- you need to know to ensure that your
Define Your munication tool for educating, informing electronic message boards are working
Content Strategy and engaging employees. Many compa- hard to help build safety awareness at
nies turn to electronic message boards your facility.
Employ Best to build safety awareness and reinforce
Practices for
Content Creation

Keep Your
Program Alive
and Well

Conclusion

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 01
 1

Get Clear on
Your Objectives
CHAPTERS
Defining your goals
Introduction Before you start thinking about screens A common high-level objective is to
and media players, you should ask drive safety awareness by adding a
Get Clear on Your yourself, “Why do we need digital visual communication channel that will
Objectives signage?” Once you have clarified your reach all workers and help maintain a
objectives, you will be able to define safe work environment. A more specific
Understanding specific measurable outcomes. This will objective might be to attain VPPPA
Your Attitude create the framework for everything that STAR status at your facility, and doing
follows—your content strategy, software so requires a visual communication
Define Your features, number of screens and where component. In both cases, you may look
Content Strategy they should be located, as well what to your digital signage platform as a way
resources you will need to keep your to reinforce leadership’s commitment to
Employ Best program going. safety, an essential element in driving
Practices for culture change.
Content Creation When it comes to workplace safety,
Keep Your the objective is often two-fold: to
Program Alive create a culture of safety and to drive
and Well safety awareness. In EHS Today, Chuck
Conclusion Pettinger, Ph.D.,
You may look to your talks about the
digital signage platform difference between
as a way to reinforce culture and climate.
leadership’s commit- “Climate describes
ment to safety ‘what’ happens
whereas culture
explains ‘why’ people do the things they
do.” While changing culture is more of
a long-term process, targeted safety
programs can readily impact climate.

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 02
 Measuring your success
With these objectives in mind, consider how they will impact your use of digital
signage and how you will measure your success. What outcomes do you want to
drive? Some outcomes will have hard metrics associated with them. Based on safety
analytics from audits and observations, you can set benchmarks such as:

Safety performance improvement resulting in:

CHAPTERS • Reduced accidents
• Reduced loss time
Introduction • Reduced workers’ comp

Beyond the numbers, it’s important to take a holistic view of safety and consider
Get Clear on Your human factors that influence attitude and morale, all of which impact daily lives
Objectives
and the company’s culture. The NSC Journal of Safety Research states that “behavior
based safety is an integral part of a comprehensive approach to addressing
Understanding psychological, social, organizational and engineering factors in the workplace.”
Your Attitude

Define Your
THESE “SOFTER” OUTCOMES MIGHT INCLUDE:
Content Strategy

Employ Best
Practices for Increased employee engagement
Content Creation

Keep Your
Program Alive
and Well Improved morale
Conclusion

Increased commitment to knowledge and skill building

Increased evidence of leadership’s

commitment to safety

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 03
 2

Understanding
Your Audience
Think of digital signage as an advertising medium, one that enables you to “market”
CHAPTERS your messages to your employees. All good advertising starts with knowing your
audience and targeting them with the right message that will drive the right behavior.
Introduction In this case, your “campaign” is around safety awareness.

Digital signage is a one-to-many communication tool. When screens are in the

Get Clear on Your cafeteria, your audience is all employees. For screens that are on the plant floor or in
Objectives
the warehouse, you’ll have the ability to tailor your messages to those workers.

Understanding Take a broad look at your workforce and answer these questions:
Your Audience

Define Your
Content Strategy

Employ Best
WHO ARE THEY?
Practices for
Content Creation
Digital signage is very popular way because they are on the road for
Keep Your to reach workers on all shifts in most of their shift. You have a brief
Program Alive industries such as manufacturing, moment at the start and end of each
and Well
distribution, transportation and shift to grab their attention and
Conclusion sanitation where safety is a major deliver your message.
concern. These employees do not
Don’t forget your office workers.
have access to computers or email
If your objective is to build a culture
so electronic message boards are a
of safety and raise awareness of its
great way to get their attention and
importance company wide, it needs
reinforce important messages.
to extend beyond the plant and the
Drivers pose another challenge warehouse to include workers at
their desks.

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 04
 WHAT DO THEY NEED TO KNOW?

For each audience, consider what focused on proper machine guarding,

they need to know. This will form the
basis of your content strategy, and
it will tell you what kind of coverage
you’ll need—how many screens and
CHAPTERS where they should be located.
For example, warehouse workers
Introduction need to be reminded of forklift safety,
balanced loads, aisle safety and
proper use of PPE. Plant workers are
Get Clear on Your
Objectives
confined spaces, eye and hand
protection. Whereas office workers
need to be reminded of ergonomics,
slips, trips and falls and eye strain.
There are universal topics that are
important for all employees such as
health and wellness and home safety.
warehouse to include workers at their
desks.

Understanding
Your Audience

Define Your
Content Strategy

Employ Best
Practices for
Content Creation

Keep Your
Program Alive
and Well

Conclusion

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 05
 3

Define Your
Content Strategy
Now that you have established a solid framework with clear objectives, outcomes and
audience definition, it is much easier to develop the content strategy. When creating
CHAPTERS
content, it’s important to tie back to your objectives to make sure that the content
supports your goals.
Introduction

Get Clear on Your

TIE BACK TO YOUR OBJECTIVES
Objectives

Understanding Treat in-house initiatives as campaigns using digital signage

Your Attitude to announce and promote your goals. Think like an advertiser
1 and brand your program with a name and logo. Be sure to
Define Your PROMOTE announce the “rules of the game” and the associated rewards
Content Strategy IN-HOUSE and recognition. Too often safety initiatives die a slow death
INITIATIVES because they lack awareness. Celebrate wins with pictures of
Employ Best individuals or groups.
Practices for
Content Creation

Keep Your
Program Alive Leadership buy-in is a critical element
and Well
of building a culture where safety is
Conclusion
2 a driving force. Showcase executives
SHOW
talking about safety using video
LEADERSHIP clips from town hall meetings or CEO
SUPPORT briefings. When it comes to rewards and recognition, get senior
leadership involved. Take pictures and capture quotes that can
be posted to your screens.

Eliminate white boards and static signs for posting recordables.

Use automatic counter widgets that keep your most important
3 metrics current and top of mind. Beyond posting days without
AUTOMATE
accidents or recordable incidents, counters can be used to raise
RECORDABLES awareness of upcoming audit dates or other significant events.

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 06
 A key element to any strong safety
culture is a commitment to continuous
4 learning. Yet, companies struggle with
REINFORCE extending learning beyond the classroom
TRAINING into everyday life. Use your screens to
reinforce safety tips. Repurpose training materials into
bite-sized messages. Recognize employees for attaining
CHAPTERS
safety certification.

Introduction

Get Clear on Your

Every company has a shortlist of basic safety topics that
Objectives
need to be reinforced regularly. When print posters were the
5 main form of communication, you chose one way to deliver a
Understanding
DRIVE message. Typically, the poster hung on the wall too long, soon
Your Attitude
ENGAGEMENT becoming wallpaper. Digital signage enables you to try many
WITH UNIQUE
different visual treatments to deliver the same message. A
Define Your VISUALS
combination of straightforward, humorous or outrageous is a
Content Strategy
sure way to get people looking at the screens. For example,
a dog wearing ridiculous sunglasses can be the hook for a
Employ Best
message on eye protection.
Practices for
Content Creation

Keep Your
Program Alive
and Well Emergency notifications are an important
component of keeping everyone safe.
Conclusion 6 Your digital signage screens offer
ISSUE
another endpoint for notifying workers
ALERTS of traffic conditions, heat alerts, HAZMAT
incidents, weather alerts, etc. Many alert
features come with an audio component.

Unfortunately OSHA does not follow us home after work.

That’s why so many accidents are happening outside of
7 work. They have a direct impact on absenteeism, restricted
REINFORCE
work, productivity and morale. Use your screens to instill
SAFETY AWAY safe habits at home with messages on weekend warrior
FROM HOME syndrome, substance abuse, home repairs, snow shoveling
safety, grill safety, etc.

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 07
 Reinforcing health and wellness is beneficial to everyone. If
you have in-house initiatives around healthy eating or exercise,
8 this is the place to promote it. If not, there’s plenty of content
PROMOTE available to educate and motivate your employees to eat right,
HEALTH AND exercise and lead a more balanced life to help reduce stress and
WELLNESS improve general well-being.

CHAPTERS

Introduction

With all the talk of big data, companies still struggle with how
Get Clear on Your to communicate key metrics to employees. Certainly there are
Objectives 9 reams of safety data that your managers analyze. Electronic
message boards are a great place to translate complex data into
Understanding SIMPLIFY meaningful bite-sized pieces with easy-to-understand visuals
Your Attitude KPIs
that will keep everyone informed.

Define Your
Content Strategy

Employ Best
Practices for Even though your main goal for
Content Creation using digital signage is to raise
10 safety awareness, you want to
Keep Your
Program Alive make sure that employees are
MAKE IT looking at the screens. Don’t
and Well
PERSONAL
forget personal messages such
Conclusion
as anniversaries, birthdays,
retirements, births, charity work
and welcoming new employees.

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 08
 4

Employ Best Practices

for Content Creation
When you consider the long list of topics that you need to communicate, the task can
CHAPTERS seem overwhelming. Following these best practices will make it easier:

Introduction

Get Clear on Your

Objectives
KEEP IT Digital signage is most effective as a visual medium.
VISUAL It’s a great channel for posting video, images, cartoons,
illustrations, infographics, etc. The impact comes from
Understanding delivering your message with a combination of words
Your Attitude
and images. Posting a bunch of bulleted PowerPoints,
complex spreadsheets or long PDFs is not going to cut
Define Your it. Enlist employees to contribute photos and videos.
Content Strategy
Get the word out and tap into the creative talents of
your employees.
Employ Best
Practices for
Content Creation

Keep Your
Program Alive FORM Don’t go it alone. Consider who your subject matter
and Well A TEAM experts are and form a team. If you have multiple
screens throughout your facility, invite safety
Conclusion
representatives from different areas. Quality,
training, HR, marketing and corporate communications
are all sources for varied content that support
your objectives.

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 09
 IDENTIFY Not all content has to be home grown. Once you
CONTENT form your team, determine what content is available
SOURCES in house (PowerPoints, metrics, dashboards, images,
video, schedules, etc.). You can supplement it with
free content such as RSS feeds, web-based videos,
CHAPTERS royalty-free images from sites such as Pixabay and
Unsplash. Many companies use fee-based content
Introduction from sites such as iStock Photo or Depositphotos,
as well as freelancers or agencies.
Get Clear on Your
Objectives

Understanding
Your Attitude

Define Your
Content Strategy
USE AN Keep everyone on task by using a simple calendar that
Employ Best EDITORIAL will help you know who is responsible for what and
Practices for CALENDAR when. It’ll also help you know that you are covering
Content Creation
the right safety topics regularly.
Keep Your
Program Alive
and Well

Conclusion MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

Production
Department

Shipping
Department

Sales Admin

Corporate

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 10
 5

Keep Your Program

Alive and Well
Digital signage is not a “one and done” type of investment. The success of your
CHAPTERS program lies in keeping it fresh, dynamic and relevant. These tips will help you with
the care and feeding of your safety awareness program:
Introduction

Get Clear on Your KNOW HOW MUCH CONTENT YOU WILL NEED
Objectives

If your screens are running 24/7, you will need a lot of content, especially if you have
Understanding multiple frame sets (versus one full-screen image). Advertisers understand the power
Your Attitude
of “repeated visual exposure” which tells us that we need to be exposed to a message
between 4 and 5 times in order for it to stick. That means you’ll need about 25 pieces
Define Your per month playing in each frame.
Content Strategy

Employ Best
Practices for
Content Creation
USE EVERGREEN CONTENT

Keep Your
Keeping content up-to-date and relevant
Program Alive
and Well will ensure engagement. Consider posting
websites, RSS or purchased feeds for news,
Conclusion weather, local traffic, sports or entertainment.
Display your social media feeds so that
employees can share in the buzz.

SAVE TIME WITH SCHEDULING TOOLS

Some content can be created in advance and scheduled to run throughout the week,
month or year such as monthly birthday and anniversary lists, lunch menus or work
schedules. Are you or your fellow content providers going on vacation soon? No
problem. Post your content in advance and schedule it to run while you are away.

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 11
 MANAGE USERS EFFECTIVELY

It’s not just about the content. It’s about the users, too. Make sure you can easily add,
delete and edit users and assign proper permissions. Everyone on the content team
needs to be able to post content. In an enterprise set-up you may want all permissions
to be controlled at HQ. Alternately, it might be easier for an administrator at the local
level to be able to add and delete users.

CHAPTERS

Introduction
KNOW YOUR VENDOR AND HOW THEY CAN HELP

Get Clear on Your

Your vendor (or vendor-to-be) is a great source
Objectives
for assistance. They can provide technical support,
customer care, ongoing training or professional services
Understanding for supplemental content creation. Learn about their
Your Attitude range of services and costs and how they can help.

Define Your
Content Strategy

Employ Best By following these proven strategies you will be

Practices for well on your way to harnessing the power of visual
Content Creation
communication to create a culture of safety.
Keep Your
Program Alive
and Well

Conclusion

themarlincompany.com
5 Proven Strategies for Improving Workplace Safety with Digital Signage 12
 ABOUT MARLIN
THEMARLINCOMPANY.COM

Since 1913, Marlin has led the way in visual communications for the
workplace. As the only digital signage provider focused solely on the
workplace, Marlin combines the spirit of innovation with the latest
technology to ensure your communication strategy is as effective as
possible. From Hilton to Herr’s and businesses in between, Marlin’s
digital signage platform is trusted by companies across the country.

For more information about workplace digital signage, visit

themarlincompany.com.