Turning Safety Into Story: Creative Content Powers a Culture of Safety
By Lee de Lang, Founder at Big Red Oak
In industries where safety is non-negotiable, like nuclear energy, industrial manufacturing, and construction, effective communication is crucial in fostering and maintaining a strong safety culture. In this blog, we’ll review how to build an effective communication program to encourage and maintain a committed focus on safety.
Reinforcing a Safety Mindset
At its core, safety culture is about a shared commitment by leadership and employees to prioritize safety over anything else. This commitment requires clear, consistent, and actionable communication from the top down, as well as opportunities for feedback and peer engagement. With a unified approach to safety communication, organizations can ensure consistent practices that prevent accidents—and near misses—to protect both employees and the reputation of the organization, fostering a safer and more secure work environment.
The Foundations of a Safety Culture
An approach that we have successfully employed is the use of storytelling to make safety personal. For example, many nuclear and industrial safety programs share peer experiences and situational stories to help highlight the real-world consequences of neglecting safety protocols. When employees can relate to these narratives, they are more likely to internalize the importance of safety in their work.
This introduces a deeper, human connection to safety values, reinforced through creative content that engages both the heart and mind. Effective communication that combines emotional storytelling with compelling visual content can transform safety from an abstract concept into a personal commitment for every employee. By humanizing safety messages and making them relatable, organizations can reinforce the values, attitudes, and behaviours essential to a safety-first mindset, ensuring that every individual in the organization understands and embodies safety protocols in their daily activities.
Leadership’s Role in Modelling Safety
Leadership plays a critical role in shaping a safety-first culture, and the way they communicate safety can have a significant impact on employee engagement. Leaders who share personal experiences related to safety, or lessons learned, demonstrate their personal commitment to the cause. This not only sets a strong example but also humanizes safety by showing that even those at the top are continuously learning and adapting their safety practices. When leadership is involved in safety storytelling—whether it’s through videos, newsletters, or live presentations—it reinforces the message that safety is a core value, not just a policy. Leadership's involvement in safety communications helps to build trust and encourages employees to view safety as a shared responsibility rather than a top-down mandate.
Making Safety Stick With Creative Content
A strong safety culture goes beyond spoken words or written memos, and it’s not just about compliance or checklists. To truly resonate, safety messaging must be delivered through engaging, relatable creative content. Videos, infographics, and interactive modules turn abstract safety concepts into tangible, visual reminders of what’s at stake. When done right, humanizing safety through storytelling and compelling creative content can captivate and hold employees’ attention long enough to drive behavioural change.
For example, a well-crafted safety video that uses personal narratives, relatable visuals, and emotional appeals will have a greater impact than a traditional safety meeting or bulletin. Seeing a peer’s story or visualizing the potential consequences of overlooking safety protocols hits home in a way that cold, hard data cannot. It’s about creating a story that employees can connect with—whether through the perspective of a frontline worker or a manager, everyone has a role in making safety a personal responsibility. By making safety relatable and personal, these stories turn what could be a mundane safety protocol into something that employees feel emotionally connected to.
Now to really drive it home, delivering content in a cohesive, repeatable, programmatic manner allows for the repetition of key messages, which is essential for reinforcing safety habits. A quarterly or monthly video series that showcases new safety topics or revisits crucial safety principles keeps the conversation active and prevents complacency. This ensures that safety isn't a one-time training, but a continuous dialogue that is memorable.
Turning Safety Into a Personal Responsibility
One of the biggest challenges in building a safety culture is ensuring that every employee feels personally accountable for safety. This is where storytelling and creative content truly shine. By telling stories that reflect real workplace scenarios, organizations can show how individual actions contribute to broader safety outcomes. Employees become emotionally invested when they see how their choices—whether it’s wearing the correct protective gear or stopping work to address a safety concern—can prevent accidents and save lives.
Building a Safety-First Workplace
In nuclear and industrial workplaces, communication is the cornerstone of a strong safety culture. From leadership modelling safety behaviours to employees taking personal ownership of safety practices, consistent and clear messaging ensures that safety is always top of mind. Programs that integrate storytelling, regular training, and continuous feedback are essential for changing mindsets and fostering a long-term commitment to safety. With effective communication strategies in place, organizations can mitigate risks and ensure that every individual contributes to a safe, reliable, and productive work environment.
Ready to turn safety into a story that sticks? Contact Big Red Oak to harness the power of creative content that helps foster and reinforce a culture of safety. Together, we'll build a communication program that inspires, engages, and drives your team’s commitment to safety excellence.