Q: When an instructor in the safety field shows a visual image of how to use one type of personal protective equipment (PPE), how important is it that the rest of the photo shows correct use of other PPE that the subject is wearing? I have always argued that there is no compromise in this area, but what are your thoughts? A.S. (submitted online)

A: It's surprising how often one can find materials that show conflicting images. A nice, professional photograph can show a worker properly wearing his safety glasses, but he has his hard hat on backwards. Is it wrong to illustrate the use of protective eyewear in this manner? Wrong?... Probably. Inappropriate?... Definitely! In the example I just cited, it was a vendor who was trying to make their eyewear product look stylish at the jobsite. Chances are the people involved in creating the photo did not know there was a right or wrong way to wear a hard hat.

For those of us in the business of safety training, we need to be much more careful. I was once shown a staged photo of emergency responders assisting a victim. The responders appeared to be doing everything correctly, but in the background I noticed an EXIT door that had a damaged (and dangling) panic bar and there was an unattended forklift with its forks raised about two feet above the floor. So what stuck in my mind? Simple - this is the last place I want to work, let alone have a medical emergency!

Every safety trainer should review his/her visual aids from a broader viewpoint. Don't simply look at the specific item being addressed. It is very easy to get tunnel vision when preparing topic specific information. Consider the entire landscape and put yourself in the trainee's position. If you do find some subtle errors in photographs, obviously, you should not use them as "correct" examples in your training materials. However, you don't necessarily have to throw them out. Instead, use them to your advantage and challenge your employees to identify the hazard(s) and/or violation(s) when shown the picture.

Vendors, photographers and art directors will continue to make mistakes when tying to portray the best qualities of a particular product. So in the future, when you see ads or images that have several "safety errors," smile and use them as a learning tool for your workforce.

Shane Austin, CSP, TN, is a safety and risk management specialist at PureSafety, a leading provider of online safety training and risk management solutions. Shane has over 10 years of industry experience in manufacturing, food service/distribution and general industry safety. He can be reached at (615) 277.3123 or at shane.austin@puresafety.com.