How do you, as a prevention advisor, convince your colleagues about well-being, safety, and prevention at work?

After your training as a prevention adviser, you will be up to date on all the to-dos. But how do you engage your colleagues in the narrative of well-being, safety, and prevention at work? Learning architect Tiffany Motton has some helpful hints and tips.

You have just completed a six-day course at Mensura Learn&Connect and you are now perfectly in the know about everything that is expected of you as a prevention advisor.

You know what the legal duties are, what questions you can refer to the external service for prevention and protection at work, what is in your annual action plan, and which priorities you will be tackling in the coming year. You’re doing a great job!

But then what?

What if your colleagues are not as convinced about concepts like ‘e-mobility’? ‘Resilience’? ‘Ergonomic home working’?

Science finally agrees: nudging works. Even small inexpensive solutions for subconsciously encouraging people to adopt the right behaviours make an impact. Yippee!

Wait a minute... Nudging?

Nudging is a term that was first introduced in 2008. It is about small adjustments to an environment that naturally move people towards the right choices.

  • An arrow pointing at the stairs, for instance, instead of the elevator.
  • A vending machine with healthy snacks instead of sweets.
  • An office near a bus or tram stop, with parking further away.

It encourages people, including casual passers-by, to make choices that are safer and healthier without being aware that they’re making them.

This is going to cost money, right?

Not necessarily! This scientific meta-analysis showed that even low-cost initiatives do genuinely have an impact. For example, the arrow pointing at the stairs is low-cost: it doesn’t require far-reaching modifications to the infrastructure.

But this marketing campaign also shows that you can modify behaviours using a smart shift in ‘defaults’. Why is the ‘with meat’ option standard anyway? Research shows that if you reverse this standard, and people have to pay a surcharge for their steak or tasty piece of chicken, meat consumption is drastically reduced.

What defaults are in place in your organisation that enable unsafe or unhealthy behaviour? And how could you turn those around?

Staying up to date as a prevention advisor? Take the refresher course!

Every prevention advisor is required to take part in an annual refresher training course. Our prevention advisor - basic level (level 3) refresher course (in Dutch or in French) ensures you are always completely up to date and enables you to get the most out of your prevention plans.