Burr Ridge, Ill. - Safety shouldn’t be a scary proposition. The Mechanical Contractors Association of Chicago is trying to get its members to think about safety in a more fun way.
Since 1990, MCA Chicago has been producing paycheck inserts, known as Safety Stuffers, which deliver messages of safety to the organization’s members in a unique way. Using scary, sexy or funny images, MCA Chicago hopes to amuse its members and get contractors to think about safety.
Stephen Lamb, executive director of MCA Chicago, said safety is the No. 1 priority of his organization. Not only do they send out these Safety Stuffers, but they also offer safety courses for contractors, provide safety materials and try to think of new ways that they can get the message of “safety first” across to members.
With more than 70 mechanical contractors represented in the Chicago market, MCA Chicago tries to stay active and keep its members abreast of safety messages. Dan Bulley, mechanical engineer and senior vice president of MCA Chicago, said he thinks Safety Stuffers offer a bit of “shock value” to members.
“We know it’s easy for mail inserts to be ignored,” Bulley said. “So we needed to create something that would get attention. I thought by doing something shocking, off-beat and amusing we would get more attention than hitting our workforce with the same old safety messages they see all the time.”
Each year, a new series of these stuffers is created, including a “sexy stuffer” series and an advertisement for a horror movie called “The Fatal Flaw,” which cautions workers to inspect equipment before using it.
This year, MCA Chicago is sending out stuffers with a funny message based on letters of the alphabet. For the letter H, an image of an old-fashioned storybook character with long blond hair with the message, “H is for hair. Helped Rapunzel land a man. Could land you in the E.R.”
MCA Chicago was established in 1888 and provides a series of services to its members, including labor relations, educational programs, governmental affairs, engineering services and more. Visit the MCA Chicago website for more information.