In the Moment

Notes from the forefront

 
 
 

Messages Ignored...and the New Language of Safety

 

We’re all wondering what the new office will look like. Not the physical space, which will be largely the same although perhaps with furniture more spread out and with ways to limit how people can gather or convene. People will want to be together, but not too close. Some happy middle ground, buffered, sanitized and safe. 

Predictions abound as plenty of companies are busily scripting the protocols and procedures for how to behave in the safe & well-office of the reopened America. Honestly the details are mind-numbing: 

  • Limits to how many people can enter the building at once (single file?) 

  • Guidelines on how many can ride in an elevator together. (two at a time?)

  • Reorganized workspaces, spread out to maintain social distances.

  • Reorganized amenities and “communal areas” to be, well, less communal or even closed off for a time. 

  • Procedures for ongoing building sanitizing.

  • New standards for air filtration.

  • And OMG have you seen the 20-step checklists for the safe use of the bathrooms? 

Who is going to read & follow all these new rules? 

First of all, it’s drudgery and the quintessence of nannying. As Americans we despise being told what to do with our personal behaviors. Look at all the demonstrations around the country to reopen beaches, restaurants etc. etc. flagrantly in disregard for the risks of the pandemic. 

So what will the HR departments and leadership teams do, who bear the responsibility for worker safety in buildings? 

To start, they need to find ways to make rule communication palatable. A huge task to be sure. Here are some or our recommendations: 

  • Simplify and streamline the instructions. It’s well-known that simple steps are most effective. Atul Gawande in his book: The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, lays out the principals in wonderful detail the best practices to help people get complicated things done right. Here are some examples from medical surgery, which seem appropriate to the seriousness of the topic at hand. 

  • Innovate with communication design. Successful signage is designed with brevity, legibility and is aesthetically pleasing. Systems of icons that are multicultural and non-verbal so that the messages are registered in the psychies of users without effort on their part. As instinctive as stop signs, don’t-walk flashing lights and smiley face emoticons. New systems of icons need to be developed and new classes of awards could be ahead 

  • Design signs that are contextual to the property interior and brand design. There will be a need for signage throughout buildings and offices. I can imagine ugliness rearing its head in the face of the careful interior space design, colors and materials intended to create a productive user experience! Successful systems will need to be designed within property brand standards where they exist, and also with sensitivity to interior design of building. 

  • Design with appeal: The world tuned out airline safety sermons decades ago, and now airlines companies have forged into a wide range of creative approaches to reach bored airplane passengers. Humor is best, see where Air New Zealand took it. 

  • Turn necessity into personal expression. Just as we’ve seen an explosion of well-designed ads for products that assist those with physical limitations to live more normal lives, virus protection can become a personal style expression. We Like where tread365.com is taking it.  

Rules, guidelines and instructions will not be optional, they will be mandatory and essential to safety as we enter the next step of this great experiment in how to live in a pandemic in a hyper connected society. The question is how to make it effective and palatable.

 
Kevin MasiTorque