Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Safety as a preamble
in all plans,
Individual Performance
Management, and so on
Safety discussions with team members
Safety games and competitions
Safety campaigns in changing forms, new speakers, new subjects
Safety equipment and tools (for example, sunblock)
Priming is more effective if the stereotypes are connected to our evolu-
tionary tasks: survival, group behavior, and reproduction. Our deepest
concerns are probably those for our family, especially our children.
Motivation for safety behavior can easily be generated here. The chemi-
cal company Huntsman once printed a picture of the employee
'
sown
family on the reverse of his personal company badge with the text:
“
This
is the reason why we work safely.
If really tough messages have to be
communicated (in case of persistent casualties), a picture of a waiting
mother and children can wake up employees. Humor can also be a good
way to catch attention as long as safety itself is not made ridiculous.
”
Safety priming can and should be done via all senses. The most
recent discovery is the use of odors. There is evidence that the smell of
lemon and soap enhances a more clean way of eating. Further evi-
dence shows that the smell of lemon has a positive effect on safe car
driving, and the combined smell of citrus has an effect on safer behav-
ior in general. The odor of peppermint led to a significant performance
improvement in difficult motor tasks (Ho & Spence, 2005) and to
more alertness in a visual attention task (Warm et al., 1991; Moss
et al., 2008) it also helps to fight daytime sleepiness (Norrish, 2005).
The impact of olfactory sense is special because it is the only sense that
has a direct contact with the emotional brain, the source of our moti-
vation. Due to this direct line, the translation of sensory input into
action cannot be merged while processing concepts, words, or opi-
nions. This makes smell a strong source of manipulation.
The smell of citrus is a known primer for safe driving. It works even if
the scent is under the threshold of conscious perception.
9.7.1 Overdoses of Priming?
One might wonder whether there is an optimal amount of priming.
Considering the effects of habituation, priming might go so far that it
starts to lose its effectiveness. Current research indicates that regular
