EPC-UK’s annual Safety Kick-off - a case study

Fifth Dimension, a renowned team of business presenters and magicians who have performed across the globe, has brought its unique approach to health and safety training to EPC-UK’s annual ‘Safety Kick-off’ briefings.

With an unparalleled reputation for excellence, innovation and professionalism in both business and entertainment circles, Jeff Burns and Ivor Smith of Fifth Dimension, provide health and safety presentations, team development workshops and keynote talks using magic as a means to effectively convey their messages – and it was this distinctive method of delivery that prompted EPC-UK to approach Fifth Dimension.

Bringing the safety message to life

As a leading force in the field of commercial explosives and drilling and blasting services, safety is intrinsic to every EPC-UK operation and the company kicks off every year with a series of Safety Briefings to review and reinforce its safety.

I came across Fifth Dimension and was really impressed with their fun and engaging style of presentation

Ben Williams, EPC-UK Managing Director, explains why they decided to invite Fifth Dimension to present at the 2021 safety briefings: “Due to current social distancing regulations, we had to deliver this year’s Safety Kick-offs in a virtual way, so also took the opportunity to review the content and research alternate ways of bringing our safety message to life.

“Whilst developing my own CPD and attending a webinar hosted by Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, I came across Fifth Dimension and was really impressed with their fun and engaging style of presentation. I then shared their contact details with our EPC-UK Safety Ambassadors, who are responsible for creating our Safety Kick-offs.”

Supporting safety culture

Specialising in supporting a company’s specific safety culture by creating innovative presentations that address safety in the workplace, Fifth Dimension use magic as a visual aid to ensure its presentations are fun, impactful, thought provoking and memorable.

Ivor Smith explains how the concept came into being: “Both Jeff and I have corporate backgrounds and extensive business experience but our true passion is magic – so we decided to combine the two skills and create Fifth Dimension.

“Through our work we have discovered that magic, rather than anecdotal evidence, really captivates the audience, helping them view various safety scenarios in a different way and re-evaluate how they would respond in certain situations. We have also found that magic helps these important messages ‘stick’, with attendees retaining more information than they would if they were asked to watch yet another PowerPoint presentation!”
Jeff and Ivor entertained the EPC-UK team with a variety of tricks, each encouraging the audience to; think more creatively, learn to look at things in the round and see the bigger picture, and discover new ways of creating safer pathways to overcome challenges.

Engaging and informative

Ben Williams continues: “We are all sometimes guilty of seeing only what we expect to see, rather than taking the time to review the situation we’re in and re-examine. When it comes to safety, we want our team to do just this and Jeff and Ivor’s presentation helped to underpin this message perfectly to our employees.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Fifth Dimension for making our Safety Kick-offs so much more interesting, engaging and informative, and offering us an alternative way of looking at safety within our workplace.”

We would like to thank EPC-UK for inviting us to present at its 2021 Safety Kick-offs

Safety leadership

Jeff Burns of Fifth Dimension concludes: “We always promote the mantra ‘Leadership is a behaviour, not a position’ and this resonates strongly with the safety culture EPC-UK has created. It believes that all employees have the right to feel safe and comfortable in their roles, regardless of their position within the company, and they all have a right to stop if they feel this is not the case. This has made our job slightly easier in terms of promoting safe working practices.

“We would like to thank EPC-UK for inviting us to present at its 2021 Safety Kick-offs – and to everyone who participated and helped us with our tricks! – and we hope everyone who attended went away with new ideas and ways of approaching safety in their day-to-day working lives.”