“Collaboratively, we’ve really evolved: it’s a testament to the staff at Big Red Oak and their willingness to understand our business.”
– Megan Adams, Director of Corporate Communications, Bruce Power
“Safety First” is Bruce Power’s Number One value. As the world’s largest nuclear power generator, Bruce Power places safety at the forefront of every action and decision: safety for the community and province, for the environment, and for its employees and guests. Their strong culture of health and safety is reinforced through monthly safety videos that keep its staff updated and vigilant, highlighting best practices to protect the public and prevent worker injuries.
The Challenge
Megan Adams, Bruce Power’s Director of Corporate Communications, outlines how the program has grown. “We started by creating safety videos in-house to help deliver a consistent safety message across site to our staff in a video format,” she says. “The videos originated with an on-camera interview with minimal b-roll or stock footage.”
However, as technology advanced, Bruce Power’s Corporate Communications team realized that they could not keep pace by doing the videos in-house. They needed a professional, polished approach, not only for internal messaging, but also for commercials and external video content.
It was time to modernize their suite of communication tools and measure up to audience expectations for more sophisticated production value.
The Solution
Bruce Power reached out to Big Red Oak to partner with them in upgrading their tactics, both within and beyond the organization.
“As we became more familiar with Big Red Oak,” Megan explains, “we incorporated them into our team and made them part of our day-to-day business.” Over the years, Big Red Oak has become deeply involved in the critical work of Bruce Power, recognizing their important mandate to serve citizens and businesses with clean, reliable energy, while fighting climate change and contributing to medical breakthroughs through life-saving isotopes.
Members of Big Red Oak participate in meetings that keep them current on Bruce Power’s initiatives. “It is not just the Corporate Communications group that uses Big Red Oak,” Megan says. “We’ve put their videos into exhibits at our Visitor Centre and introduced them to many different departments.” In fact, she adds, video segments from the safety videos are often repurposed by passing clips on to the training department to help reinforce expectations and deliver on their training.
The Creative
The two companies have nurtured a productive and collaborative approach. Big Red Oak is now an integral part of Bruce Power’s Safety Video committee, seeing and hearing first-hand which topics are prioritized each month.
“We try to make the videos timely,” Megan comments, “reminding the staff of on-site protocols for winter readiness or alerting them to upcoming outages, for instance.” Content can cover safety practices on certain tools or other aspects of the overall safety suite. It may also raise awareness about environmental policies or the expanding isotope production platform for cancer treatment.
The videos are generally about 20 to 25 minutes long, allowing for a short follow-up chat. Ideas for the segments are presented by other departments or the participants to be interviewed, then reviewed for relevance. The schedule is drawn up, with locations and availabilities confirmed; and pre-interviews are conducted to prepare messaging briefs.
Big Red Oak’s creative production team shoots the segments and ascertains what assets, such as photos, documents or graphs, will be needed for the editing phase. The visuals complement the speakers, with the occasional addition of animation to explain specific concepts. Big Red Oak delivers the first draft and incorporates any feedback for the final version.
The Result
The safety videos are posted on Bruce Power’s Intranet for employee viewing. The videos often serve as thought-starters, sparking constructive discussions. “We have achieved excellent compliance with our employees,” Megan observes. “We track the views month-to-month, and we see fairly consistent positive results.”
Megan believes that the video process is functioning well, with a good cadence and valuable input from various levels and departments. “As the years have gone on,” she concludes, “we’ve built up the relationship with the people at Big Red Oak, and we expect the high quality and creative assets that we always get.”
The Opportunity
Bruce Power plays a vital role in Canada’s leadership in nuclear innovation, and they are working hard to flip the script on the significance of nuclear. Video content that assures safe nuclear practices is a compelling tool in this mandate. Promoting a culture of safety provides a foundation of commitment and care that strengthens the organization, fuelling the momentum to secure our clean-energy future by opening minds to the pivotal impact of nuclear on our planet.
Here is a short sizzle reel with highlights from the internal monthly safety video: