Magic used to keep occupational health professionals spellbound
15/08/2007

Occupational health professionals, magicians and health and safety issues might seem like an unusual combination but these are exactly the ingredients that came together at an occupational health conference which was held in May at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh.

Maureen McBain of RGU says, "The RCN Occupational Health Nurses Forum Occupational Health Conference is an annual event which looks at best practice. One of the items on the conference programme was a presentation on the health and safety issues that are frequently faced by those working in occupational health sector.

"We knew that it was extremely likely, if not inevitable, that those attending the event would have seen or heard the information on health and safety issues many times before. Therefore it was vital that we found a different and innovative way to present the information. This is where Fifth Dimension came in."

Ivor explains, "Delivering a presentation on a subject that has been covered many times before is tough. The key to ensuring that the audience remains engaged and as a result retains the key messages is to get their undivided attention and keep it! As you might imagine this is not always an easy task.

"Although we have presented health and safety information many times to the oil and gas industry, presenting on health and safety issues to an audience of people from the occupational health sector was definitely a test of our ability to reinforce existing messages."

Ivor continues, "Not being ones to shirk away from accepting a challenge we combined our magical talents and presentation skills to come up with a new, humorous way to present the health and safety related key messages to the audience."

Issues that were covered during the course of the presentation included communication, trust, forward planning and risk assessment.

"The link between magic and health and safety issues might not be immediately apparently but it is all about finding an entertaining way of getting the key messages across," says Ivor.

"For example, a magical piece involving tying a knot in length of rope was used to illustrate the fact that the accepted way of doing something is not always the best way and that by taking the time to consider the task it might be possible to find a better way of working.

"Our presentation also included a magical effect which incorporated the threat of a perceived danger causing injury to a member of the audience. This was used to highlight issues including trust, teamwork and also to promote the avoidance of taking blind risks."

Ivor adds, "By using imaginative ways to present existing messages it is more likely that the audience will pay attention to the presentation and thus retain the key message."

<< Back