Humor in safety

As a safety trainer, Regina McMichael enjoys engaging audiences in unique ways to get her message across.

After instructing a recent all-day course, she had an opportunity to observe another full-day class two days later. The audience included several professionals who had attended her session.

“The instructor asked, ‘Has a trainer ever done anything to turn you off as a learner?’” recalled McMichael, president of The Learning Factory Inc., a safety education and training company. “One of the attendees said, ‘I can’t stand it when people do that fake shoot-themselves-in-the-head thing with their finger. I lost someone to suicide recently.’”

McMichael’s heart sank. Her attempt at humor, using a gesture she had done for years, had struck a painful chord.

Humor can be part of safety training, experts who spoke with Safety+Health agree. But although jokes and funny stories are a perfect fit for some audiences, they can sometimes have unintended consequences. The key is to use caution, know your audience, understand the potential impacts of humor, and examine the gray area between funny and inappropriate.

Where humor and safety meet

McMichael said hearing the attendee’s criticism over her use of the gesture had an immediate and lasting impact.

“There’s a difference between intention and a bad habit,” she said. “I never intended for it to resonate that way. I took that to heart.”

McMichael has since taken time to review casual phrases, gestures and body language she uses to avoid another such occurrence.

Making safety professionals laugh has been something Richard Hawk has been doing for more than 35 years. In fact, the veteran safety expert, speaker and S+H columnist’s website is MakeSafetyFun.com.

Although he has done theater, Hawk resists the notion of being funny for funny’s sake. “One time, I was booked as a ‘safety comedian,’” he said. “I thought, ‘No, I’m not.’ I’m a speaker/trainer and I want to teach, but be funny doing it.”

During his presentations, which sometimes include guitar playing, balloons and handing out finger puppets, Hawk aims for what he calls the “30-70 rule.”

“Thirty percent of what I do is going to make you laugh,” he said. “Seventy percent is going to make you think and learn. I’m going to take that 30 percent and spread it out.”

In between humor, Hawk inserts the safety lessons he wants the audience to take away. So does veteran speaker Leonard Jones, who serves as a U.S. Air Force risk management program manager. Jones relies on humor in many of his safety discussions.

“It lends itself especially well to safety because, quite frankly, many people come to a safety briefing with an expectation of, ‘Let’s just get through it. It’s going to be painful,’” he said. “When you give them something fresh, like humor, I think they’re more attentive.”

One of the most effective methods of humor is when it’s self-deprecating, Jones added.

“I try to make the joke on me – something funny I did or a mistake I made.”

What’s appropriate?

The question of what’s funny and what’s inappropriate is a difficult one and depends on a number of factors.

“It’s anecdotal,” said SafeStart Senior Safety Consultant Tim Page-Bottorff, who has presented to hundreds of audiences. “I don’t think people intentionally do things to cross the line, but you’ve got to be really cognizant. Humor can be a lot of things to different people.”

During train-the-trainer sessions he leads, Page-Bottorff equates the question of appropriate humor to playing golf. “A golfer on the putting green goes by feel, the way the green contours,” he said.

When Page-Bottorff reviews his presentations, he starts at the end and works back to the beginning, identifying where he can engage with the audience. He focuses on personal connection rather than forcing humor.

“I always come back to the statement that you’re having fun for the sake of safety, not having fun in spite of safety,” he said.

A difficulty for some speakers is keeping in tune with current social ethics and values, which evolve over time and can blur what’s considered acceptable and unacceptable.

“If you weren’t keeping up with that, it’s bit you in the last couple of years,” McMichael said.

Understanding that line can come by observing and talking with other speakers.

“Where are others drawing the line?” McMichael suggests asking yourself, “particularly among others that you respect and appreciate.”

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Topics that can tank

Subjects to avoid making jokes include politics, religion, race, sex, and anything to do with worker injuries and fatalities, the experts concur.

Hawk said he avoids any profanity “even when I have an audience full of truck drivers who I might end up hanging out and playing pool with in a bar later.”

McMichael added that safety trainers should avoid jokes about OSHA and other government agencies – you don’t know who could be in the audience. Also, it can build a base of distrust toward the agency.

When it comes to using videos shared on some social media of workers in potentially dangerous situations, Page-Bottorff has simple advice for other trainers.

“Leave it on social media,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a place in the classroom for it.”

If your goal is to make an impact with a real-life situation, he suggests using a written case study, such as those produced by the NIOSH Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program. (See an example.)

Geography and culture can have a big impact on humor as well.

Before giving a presentation in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Hawk said he was told not to include audience participation. But, in a city with numerous golf resorts, he went against the advice and asked for a show of hands from the 500 or so attendees to see who played the sport.

“Nobody raised their hand,” he said. “Not a single person.”

During that same presentation on making safety fun, Hawk noticed more reserved emotions from the audience. “It was a different laugh than I would get in Texas,” he said.

McMichael had a similar experience while presenting in Scotland. During the session, she uttered the phrase, “Oh, everything is sparkles and unicorns.”

Her client, who was British, said, “You don’t want to go there.”

Why? Because the unicorn is Scotland’s national animal. Dating back to Celtic mythology, it’s a symbol of purity, innocence and power.

“What’s humorous now is subject to the diversity of your audience, the global footprint of your audience, the gender, the age, all of those things,” McMichael said. “It can be very difficult. You’ve got to be ready to pivot as an instructor and a safety professional.”

The audience and you

Knowing where your audience is from and the industries they work in is just the beginning.

Many pro speakers ask dozens of questions about their audience before a speaking engagement, including, for example, the types of people attending, what work group or division they represent, and whether any of them are coming off a shift.

For audiences that might display uneasiness about laughing, McMichael gives attendees permission, especially after a joke that is typically well received doesn’t connect.

“I say, ‘OK guys, that was a joke and this is the part where we laugh,’” she said.

She’ll also say in the introductory summary of her presentation, “Hey, we’re going to tell some jokes. We’re going to have a good time.”

When a first attempt at humor doesn’t go well, she dials back on future tries. “If it looks like I’m failing miserably, I’ll stop doing it,” she said.

Experience and self-evaluation also matter. Trainers who regularly present to their colleagues have the benefit of knowing their audiences well. New safety pros don’t typically have that luxury, so caution is advised when including humor in safety messages.

“You’ve got to honestly evaluate how funny of a person you are,” Jones said. “How good is your delivery? Don’t force it. Don’t try to be funny if that’s not your nature.”

Laughter’s impact

So why use humor at all in safety training? Simply put, a good laugh can positively affect our body and mind.

The Mayo Clinic explains that laughter elevates oxygen intake, which stimulates the heart and lungs while increasing endorphins released by your brain. Endorphins are chemicals produced by the body to relieve stress and pain – resulting in improved circulation and relaxed muscles.

According to a study published in October 2016 in the journal Advances in Physiology Education, humor can create positive emotional and social connections, allowing for a rapport to be established between learners and educators and helping learners focus and retain information being presented.

“You’ve only got so much time with the people,” said Jones, who was a college speech instructor and an Air Force command briefer during his active duty. “So, the sooner you can break down the walls between you and get some shared communication going, the better.

“Humor is a pretty good way to do that. If we’re all sharing laughter, it puts us on an even plane. Using humor opens the door to get our safety message out.”