The Campbell Institute, the National Safety Council's (NSC's) center of excellence for environmental, health and safety management, has released a report titled "Visual Literacy: How 'Learning to See' Benefits Occupational Safety."
In partnership with the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA), this is part of a multi-year research project to study the effects of visual literacy training on increasing hazard awareness and recognition in the workplace.
"Our world is becoming increasingly visual, but when we look at something, how much are we really seeing?" asked John Dony, director of the Campbell Institute and director of environmental, health, safety and sustainability at the National Safety Council. "Just like learning to read, it is beneficial to train our minds to better 'see' the world so we are able to overcome our visual biases. The more hazards we can proactively identify, the safer we'll be." The concept of visual literacy has been around for decades, but the specific approach to this particular research is unprecedented. Visual literacy has been gaining traction in the workplace recently as a skill and tool to better identify occupational hazards that could lead to safety incidents.
The TMA and the Campbell Institute encourage safety professionals to view their workplaces the way one would view a work of art: deeply, critically and completely. If workers "see" an environment in its totality, they theoretically can spot potential hazards and imagine what can happen from those hazards. Having this "ability to see" helps workers be proactive about their work spaces and take action to mitigate hazards before they can cause an incident.
If workers "see" an environment in its totality, they theoretically can spot potential hazards and imagine what can happen.
The institute has enlisted the participation of four of its members for this research series: AES, Cummins, Owens Corning and USG. The directors of the TMA will design and deliver visual literacy training for each of these organizations. In turn, researchers at the Campbell Institute will determine the effectiveness and outcomes of the training.
The stages of the research include:
- Understanding the current state of hazard identification programs and processes in the companies studied.
- Determining a baseline for hazard identification/ visual literacy "competency" in the companies studied with help from the TMA.
- Monitoring the training/intervention program as it takes place and then periodically assessing key learning/retention as well as hazard identification activities for the next 12 months.
"At TMA, we believe visual literacy provides an essential skillset for navigating the visual world," said Mike Deetsch, Emma Leah Bippus director of education and engagement at the TMA. "Through exercises and activities using great works of art from the TMA collection, we can systematize a way of looking at and understanding the environment around us."
For more information about the visual literacy research project, visit www.thecampbellinstitute.org/ research or www.nsc.org, or call (800) 621-7615.
