Look out! Moline firm channels scary movie mojo for workplace safety campaign

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By Jennifer DeWitt | Sunday, January 06, 2008 |

He tried to service the big machine without turning it off! Now he is … The Incredible Flattened Man. Starring Sebastian Crush

He hitched a ride on a forklift load and ended up under the wheel! The Last Ride A Deadly Mistake. Starring Constantine Crunch

Those blurbs might sound like trailers for a pair of horror flicks, but they actually are part of a marketing campaign aimed at getting workers to put safety first in their mind.

Safety in the workplace is neither sexy nor funny. Rather, it is serious business. But Nehlsen Communications, a Moline public relations firm, has turned to humor and satire to get workers focused on safety. The latest campaign produced by Nehlsen on behalf of two Chicago labor organizations uses a series of scary movie ad spoofs — complete with eerie and graphic illustrations — to convey safety messages.

Printed on stuffers, or small flyers inserted in pay envel-opes, the ads were created for the Mechanical Contractors Association of Chicago and United Association Local 597.

Nancy Nehlsen, the president of Nehlsen Communications, said unions and contractors are constantly searching for new ways to address safety issues.

“Accidents are incredibly costly. There are OSHA investigations. There can be fines and a project can get shut down for a considerable amount of time after an accident. So they always are trying to keep safety top of mind,” said Nehlsen, whose firm has found a niche in marketing and promotions for the trades.

The scary movie campaign marks the second time Nehlsen Communications has used the stuffers to communicate ideas about safety. “The first year, we did something a little bit shocking in our approach, with illustrations of what can happen. It got a lot of attention,” she said of what her office refers to as the “sexy campaign.”

That campaign used playful innuendo to grab workers’ attention. One example, “Pucker up those lips and …” (on the back of the stuffer) “ ... learn CPR. It could save a life.”

Also, “It’s easier to return a wink when your eyes are in your head” ... (on back) “Wear your safety glasses.”

“The problem is you get workers who have been doing their job for years, and they need the constant reminder about safety. You need to give them something that is arresting,” said Mark McLaughlin, Nehlsen’s public relations specialist, who developed the

26 different Safety Stuffers. “It’s so easy for workers to be tempted to forget safety and get the job done fast.”

Although the campaign was created for the Chicago organizations, Nehlsen said her

company maintains the rights to it and will be promoting its use with other companies and unions. She currently is negotiating with a large corporation in Texas with 23,000 employees.

According to James Buchanan, the business manager of United Association Local 597, the campaign covers a wide variety of “vitally important work site issues.”

“There are Safety Stuffers for appropriate lifting techniques, proper ladder usage, personal protective equipment, lockout/tagout procedures, ergonomics, fire safety and more. There are even stuffers that address sexual harassment and workplace violence,” he said.

Buchanan said the Safety Stuffers are one of the educational tools used by Mechanical Contractors Association of Chicago and United Association Local 597 to increase safety awareness among workers. Other methods include daily Toolbox Talks on-site and ongoing safety courses.

“At the start of each workday, workers gather so the foreman can share the day’s prepared safety advice,” he said. “Because all the workers hear the talks, everybody is on the same page safety-wise.”

As her staff brainstormed ideas for the campaign, Nehlsen said they were mindful that many of today’s workers have grown up with the Internet and high-energy video games. “They like their information quick and engaging. If you can’t excite their interest, you’ve lost them. So we made each Safety Stuffer eye-catching and entertaining, and kept the text short, for maximum impact.”

Each stuffer also continues the movie theme with clever ratings, such as “P for Perilous,” “O for Observant,” “R for Road kill,” and “P for Painful.” “D for Disgusting” is on a stuffer reminding workers of appropriate language in the workplace.

Nehlsen said with its first round of Safety Stuffers, her staff worked hard to measure the campaign’s effectiveness.

“We ran contests to measure the success, asking them to tell us the last five messages. We knew they were successful because a lot of people would enter the contests,” she said, adding that another time designs by workers’ children were used.

McLaughlin said union leaders report seeing workers talking about the stuffers. “One worker said ‘I’ve got to show that one to my kid.’ That in itself is telling them it’s getting their attention.”

Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.