EPC-UK add a touch of magic to safety briefings

Fifth Dimension make safety message more memorable at EPC-UK’s annual Safety Kick-offs

SAFETY is intrinsic to every EPC-UK operation and, with a strategic goal of creating a ‘Zero Harm’ environment, the company begins every year with a series of safety briefings to review and reinforce its safety messages – and to make this year’s briefings more memorable during these challenging times, EPC-UK decided to add a touch of magic in the form of performing duo Fifth Dimension.

Traditionally delivered face to face, this year’s safety briefings were presented virtually, via Microsoft Teams, to ensure the continued protection of staff members during the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by EPC-UK’s team of safety ambassadors and tailored to each specific area of the business and its safety needs, the presentations began by taking attendees through the company’s new behavioural safety model.

This streamlined safety model has been specifically designed to be more concise and easier to follow, effectively signposting employees through safety procedures and highlighting the many ways they can access support. This presentation was followed by Ivor Smith and Jeff Burns from Fifth Dimension with their unique way of addressing safety in the workplace.

Explaining why this magic element was added to the 2021 safety briefings, EPC-UK managing director Ben Williams said: ‘Due to current social distancing regulations, we had to deliver this year’s Safety Kick-offs in a virtual way, so also took the opportunity to review the content and research alternate ways of bringing the safety message to life.

‘Whilst developing my own CPD and attending a webinar hosted by the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, I came across Fifth Dimension and was really impressed with their fun and engaging style of presentation. I shared their contact details with our safety ambassadors, who are responsible for creating our Safety Kick-offs.’

Fifth Dimension specialize in supporting a company’s specific safety culture by creating innovative presentations that address safety in the workplace. They use magic as a visual aid to ensure their presentations are fun, impactful, thought-provoking and memorable.

Ivor Smith of Fifth Dimension explained how the concept came into being: ‘Both Jeff and I have corporate backgrounds and extensive business experience, but our true passion is magic – so we decided to combine the two skills and create Fifth Dimension.

‘Through our work, we have discovered that magic, rather than anecdotal evidence, really captivates the audience, helping them view various safety scenarios in a different way and re-evaluate how they would respond in certain situations.

‘We have also found that magic helps these important messages ‘stick’, with attendees retaining more information than they would if they were asked to watch yet another PowerPoint presentation.’

Fifth Dimension entertained the EPC-UK team with a variety of tricks, each encouraging the audience to think more creatively, learn to look at things in the round and see the bigger picture, and discover new ways of creating safer pathways to overcome challenges.

Ben Williams continued: ‘We are all sometimes guilty of seeing only what we expect to see, rather than taking the time to review the situation we’re in and re-examine. When it comes to safety, we want our team to do just this.

‘We have given all our employees the power to say ‘Stop’ – without any repercussions or blame – whenever they feel unsafe and believe this is the most important instrument in our safety toolbox. Jeff and Ivor’s presentation helped underpin this message to our employees.’

Jeff Burns of Fifth Dimension added: ‘We always promote the mantra ‘Leadership is a behaviour, not a position’, and this resonates strongly with the safety culture EPC-UK have created. They believe that all employees have the right to feel safe and comfortable in their roles, regardless of their position within the company, and they all have a right to stop if they feel this is not the case. This has made our job slightly easier in terms of promoting safe working practices.

‘We would like to thank EPC-UK for inviting us to present at their 2021 Safety Kick-offs, and everyone who participated and helped us with our tricks! We hope everyone who attended went away with new ideas and ways of approaching safety in their day-to-day working lives.’

The 2021 safety briefings concluded with an overview of the company’s current COVID-19 safety measures, EPC-UK Absolutes, to reinforce the procedures and protocols that were introduced last year to keep employees, contractors and customer COVID secure.