Safety Consulting Corner

Smelly Safety?

We know that when more senses are used, we remember things better. Advertisers are beginning to consider using smell in their marketing messages now. Gas stations in California are already putting coffee smells at the pump in hopes that you are overcome with an overwhelming desire to rush into the store for a steaming hot cup of coffee. I am sure we have all experienced a certain smell bringing back a strong memory.

So, how can we use this in safety? Walmart is testing DVDs with "smell-o-vision" that release smells related to a movie at just the right time such as the smell of a burning building during fire scenes. If "smell-o-vision" were to make it's way into the safety world, we would perhaps see safety training DVDs for use with chemical safety training that demonstrate the concept of odor threshold by emitting different smelling chemicals (such as the very recognizable hydrogen sulfide). Or maybe use the Walmart idea and use the smell of smoke in fire extinguisher training. 

This is definitely "out there" thinking and probably many years away but I think there are some possibilites for use in the safety world. What do you think?

Say Cheese

If you are tired of using the same boring clipart in your presentations, check out  IStockPhoto (www.istockphoto.com). As the name implies, these are mostly photos and not clip art but the photos are great and will add a professional look to your materials. Most stock photographs are quite expensive but at Istock, you will usually only pay $1 per photo. There are almosy 1.5 million photos available so you are sure to find one that meets your needs. Just enter in your search terms and you will get pages that match your description. At IStock, you buy credits with a charge card and then use your credits to be able to download the photos that you need. It's very easy and will make your training materials more interesting and effective. Give IStock a try!

Training Trick

A short time ago, I was putting together an 8-hour presentation and I wanted to include a short video that I had seen on CNN.com. After a little research, I found that a product called "SnagIt" could do the trick. If you are familiar with SnagIt, please forgive my excitement. If not, read on and I am sure you will want to check it out.

SnagIt is available from TechSmith at www.techsmith.com. You can download a fully functional trial version for 30 days or buy the full license for less than $40. When you see what this software can do, you will think it's a bargain.

SnagIt lets you capture any website window, object in the window such as text or a photo, or the entire web page (with a really cool automatic scrolling feature). You can also "capture" screen videos with or without audio (and really, everything you see on screen). Once you capture it, a work area pops up where you can edit your image - erase parts, highlight items, crop photos or even add special effects. Once you have exactly what you want, you can send the output to a file, to an email, an instant message or even directly to Word or a PowerPoint presentation. Very cool.

I have to admit, in the past, I have had to print out certain images or web pages and scan them so that I have a jpeg file to insert into a presentation or proposal. This is SO much easier!

I am probably not doing this software justice with my description so check it out yourself at www.techsmith.com.