Reimagining Safety Training through Gamification
Slips, trips, and falls account for more than 25% of workplace injuries. A precedent that must-have safety trainers and managers tearing their hairs out in frustration… for all the investment made in training resources and implementing safety programs, they still can’t get employees to keep their feet at the right place.
Motivating workers to jump onboard the safety bandwagon can be challenging – it requires training that instills behavioral and habitual change. The Greek philosopher Aristotle believed in the values of repetition to infuse change in behavior. According to him “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
While traditional safety training protocols like classroom-based teaching or memorizing an OSHA manual, have increasingly failed to control unsafe behavioral patterns. Innovative EHS Software that utilizes a Gamification interface, has the potential to influence better engagement and behavioral change.
Gamification uses the principles of game design to challenge employees to learn and excel in an environment that keeps scores and measures success. It provides a framework where employees are motivated to meet training objectives, analyzed based on performance, and then gain instant gratification when goals are met.
Here how Gamification can transform the training experience:
- Transform the learning experience by utilizing elements of gamification like leader boards, badges, and levels to engage workers in a series of challenges and tasks – promoting friendly competition and gratification for completing a task.
- Greater knowledge retention with a system that promotes a frequent, spaced dose of information at repetitive cycles – empowering employees to assimilate data minus the clutter.
- Anywhere, anytime training module that brings greater accessibility to training material via smartphones and computers – enabling you to learn, access, and store information at a time and a place of your preference.
- Cost-effective training models that remove the burden of hiring, retaining extensive training staff.
- The instant feedback loop that reinforces the progress made throughout training – making you feel intrinsically motivated to complete each task successfully.
For some, attributing occupational safety to fun and games may seem counterintuitive, especially to a field that is characterized by its serious overtones. But the fact is, far too often, accidents are due to the lackluster approach of employees to committing to a safety program.
The knowledge imparted by safety training has its own reward. Gamification makes the learning process that much more interesting and fun – inspiring users to participate, retain, and use this knowledge to their advantage to avoid accidents or injuries.
Related read: Our listing of the Best EHS Software.
Joshua Martyn was a content manager at Safetymint, crafting helpful contents that enlighten readers and EHS professionals alike, about fresh trends, technologies and perspectives from the world of safety.
