Workers' Compensation

Safety Meeting Topics for Your Employees

Ella Baker
Safety Meeting Topics for Your Employees
Reading time 5 Mins
Published on Sep 14
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Safety meetings offer your company and management team the opportunity to communicate to your employees how they can do their jobs safer and reduce the likelihood of workplace injuries. These meetings also offer your employees an opportunity to voice their concerns regarding potential health or safety issues they have identified. Knowing what to discuss and how to best convey that information to your employees can be a challenge. If you’re struggling to find safety meeting topics, try these suggested topics to kick-start your meeting calendar.

Defensive driving strategies

When your employees hit the roadway, defensive driving strategies are key for maintaining their safety and the safety of the public. No one can control the actions and decisions of other vehicles on the roadway, but defensive driving strategies can help your employees avoid accidents.

When talking to your employees about defensive driving strategies, remind them that there are two components of defensive driving that you have control over:

  1. You: You are the only driver you can control, so you must stay alert and engaged at all times.
  2. Your vehicle: Your vehicle is the only vehicle you can control, so you need to prepare and maintain your vehicle for driving.

Since employees are licensed drivers, safe driving principles must be taught and reinforced regularly. Devastating consequences can result when drivers don’t give adequate attention to the importance of defensive driving principles.

Remind employees to use the Four A’s of defensive driving:

  • Anticipate: Drivers must remain alert at all times for other drivers on the roadway, any obstructions, and any other activity going on around them.
  • Adjust: Drivers need to be able to adjust to changing circumstances while driving, paying constant attention to detail and taking necessary adjustments to avoid accidents.
  • Assume nothing: Drivers should not take anything for granted, including that other drivers will follow the established rules of the road or act in expected ways.
  • Allow for no distractions: Driver must be able to stay focused on safe driving and arriving at their destination without incident.

Burn Safety

Millions of Americans seek treatment for burn injuries every year, many of them occurring in the workplace. When you and your staff think of burns, heat burns are often the most discussed culprit. Burn safety is an important topic to cover in your safety program. Understanding the different ways that your employees can sustain burns and how to treat them can help your team avoid burns and react quickly in the event of an incident.

Some workplace chemicals, including corrosives, can cause burns to the skin that are sometimes very serious. Ensuring that your employees have the safety equipment they need when handling such chemicals, including gloves, masks, and rebreathers, can help limit the possibility of such burns. Stressing the importance of wearing this safety equipment at all times is equally important. Since people can get complacent over time, take a few minutes during your next safety meeting to remind employees why they need to wear their safety equipment any time they handle potentially hazardous chemicals.

Contact with electric currents can also cause burns. Since electricity is conducted through your body, electrical burns can cause severe damage to organs and other deep tissue also. Remind your employees often about the importance of taking proper safety precautions when performing electrical work. From shutting off electrical currents to wearing proper safety equipment, taking proper precautions when working with electricity can help save lives.

If a burn injury does occur in the workplace, your employees and managers should know how to react. While the severity and type of the burn determine exact treatment, burn treatment generally includes:

  • Cut away loose clothing around a burned area, but don’t try to remove clothing that is stuck to the burn.
  • Immerse the burned area in cool water or apply clean wet cloths to areas that can’t be immersed. Don’t use ice or ice water–just cool, clean water.
  • After cooling, cover the affected area with a sterile bandage or clean cloth. If burns cover a large part of the body, cover with a clean sheet. Avoid rubbing burned areas, and do not break blisters. Never use lotion, ointment, or butter on a burn.
  • For chemical burns, carefully remove contaminated clothing and flush the affected area for 15 minutes.
  • Consult your doctor for second-degree burns and minor chemical burns. Call for emergency assistance for third-degree burns and chemical or second-degree burns that cover a large area of the body.

Talk safety with your partners at Sheakley

Once you’ve established your safety program, a consistent schedule of safety talks will help stress the importance of taking steps to ensure the safety of all employees, customers, and the public that your company comes into contact with. Sheakley’s Workforce Management Services team can help you develop your safety talks calendar, including providing up-to-date, compliant resources and materials. Sheakley also offers a full calendar of safety-related webinars and training events.

Get your free consultation today with an expert from Sheakley. Stay up-to-date on all things Sheakley by subscribing to our blog and following us on social media. Join in the discussion by commenting below.


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