Is a safety week required by OSHA?
No. Safe + Sound Week, National Safety Month and Construction Safety Week are voluntary. What OSHA requires is hazard-specific training, such as forklift operator training and certification (29 CFR 1910.178(l)).
Safety Week Activities for Employees: Games, Hazard Hunt and Planner
Eight activities
for your safety week.
PPE bingo, a quiz wheel, a spot-the-hazard hunt, a fire drill and toolbox talks, with the week planner in Excel and where a VR station fits in each one.
The guide is open. The Excel kit only asks for your name and work email.
| Day | Activity | VR station |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Leadership kickoff | Yes |
| Tuesday | PPE bingo | Yes |
| Wednesday | Spot-the-hazard hunt | No |
What the kit includes
An Excel file with six sheets to print and keep track of the week.
Safety week plan
Day, time, activity, audience, owner, materials and location, with a calculator for how many sessions a VR station needs to reach your people.
PPE bingo
Eight cards ready to print and a caller deck with what each item protects and when it is used.
Quiz wheel
Thirty questions with answers on heights, PPE, fire, forklifts and pedestrians; press F9 and one comes up at random.
Hazard hunt and attendance
A sheet for each team, the organizer sheet with the hazards to plant and their controls, and an attendance log by activity.
Eight activities for the week
Each one says how to run it and where a VR station fits if you bring one.
Leadership kickoff
Ten minutes on day one, standing on the plant floor: the plant manager opens the week, names the risk that worries them and walks through the plan.
With the VR station: the plant manager does the first work-at-height experience in front of the screen, and the line forms on its own.
PPE bingo
The caller reads each item and what it protects, and the first full card wins. It works in the break room and at shift change, with small prizes.
With the VR station: the last square is won at the PPE station, where everyone checks their gear and what they should not be wearing: rings, earrings, bracelets and loose hair.
Spin-the-wheel quiz
A cardboard wheel or the Excel sheet with F9: a question comes up, whoever spins answers and their team scores. The thirty questions in the kit come from the five most common plant risks.
With the VR station: one slice gives a pass straight to the station, so the line fills with people who just answered.
Spot-the-hazard hunt
Beforehand, the safety team plants ten to fifteen hazards in a controlled area: a blocked extinguisher, a cord across the aisle, an unlabeled container. Teams get twenty minutes to find them and say how each one is controlled.
With the VR station: after the hunt, the pedestrian crossing shows the consequence: the first attempt ends with the person hit by the forklift.
Fire drill and extinguisher practice
The evacuation drill with its plan and its debrief, then extinguisher practice for the people your fire plan expects to use them.
With the VR station: the mixed reality extinguisher simulator works as a warm-up before practice with a real extinguisher; it does not replace it.
Five-minute toolbox talks
Each supervisor gives a short talk at the start of the shift on the risk in their area and closes with a question from the wheel.
With the VR station: the pedestrian crossing takes about four minutes and works for everyone who walks the plant, whether they drive a forklift or not.
Poster or video contest
Teams make a poster or a one-minute video about a risk in their area and the winners are recognized on the last day. Ask the people who appear for permission before posting it.
With the VR station: footage from the station goes into the summary video Fyware delivers for your internal communications.
Closing and recognition
On the last day, recognize the areas with the best hazard hunt findings and the winners, and count how many people took part with the attendance log in the kit.
With the VR station: the summary video of your own people opens the closing.
What the rules say
- No federal rule requires a safety week. OSHA Safe + Sound Week (every August), NSC National Safety Month (June) and Construction Safety Week (May) are voluntary campaigns.
- What OSHA requires is hazard-specific training. Forklift operators are trained, evaluated and certified by the employer (29 CFR 1910.178(l)); where employees are expected to use extinguishers, they get an education program at hire and at least once a year (1910.157(g)).
- Fall protection starts at 4 feet in general industry (1910.28(b)(1)) and at 6 feet in construction (1926.501(b)(1)).
- The employer pays for most required PPE (1910.132(h)), with a few listed exceptions.
- Games and VR raise awareness. A safety week activity or a VR station does not replace the training a standard requires or the employer certification.
- The hazard hunt is not your formal inspection. It feeds your safety committee; it does not replace your workplace inspections.
Sources: OSHA 29 CFR 1910.28, 1910.132, 1910.157, 1910.178 and 1926.501; OSHA Safe + Sound Week; Construction Safety Week. Checked on October 21, 2026.
How to plan the week in five steps
Dates and reach
Pick the week with your safety committee, how many shifts and how many people you want to reach; the calculator in the kit tells you how many sessions a VR station needs if you bring one.
Plan
One main activity a day and a talk on every shift: write down in the Excel file who runs it, what it needs and where it happens.
Materials
Print the bingo cards, the hazard hunt sheet and the attendance log; for the quiz wheel, the Excel sheet or a cardboard wheel is enough.
During the week
Log attendance for each activity and the hazard hunt findings; the useful ones go to the safety committee.
Closing
Recognize the areas and the winners, and file the plan with the rest of your safety program.
It is a working guide: not an official form or legal advice, and each company is responsible for how it uses it.
To bring virtual reality to your safety week
Fyware brings two stations and two technicians to your plant: work at height, PPE, fire extinguishers in mixed reality, forklift operation and pedestrian crossing, about twenty people an hour and a summary video of your people. From $3,800 USD for a four-hour activation.
Safety week questions
What are good safety week activities for employees?
In a plant, PPE bingo, a quiz wheel, a spot-the-hazard hunt, a fire drill with extinguisher practice, five-minute toolbox talks and a poster or video contest work well. The kit has the planner, bingo, the wheel and the hunt ready to print.
When should we plan the safety week?
Two to three months ahead. The 2027 dates are already out: Construction Safety Week on May 3 to 7 and OSHA Safe + Sound Week on August 9 to 15.
More questions
How many people can a VR station reach?
With two stations, about twenty people an hour and about eighty in a four-hour session. For 700 people that is about nine sessions; the calculator in the kit does the math with your number.
Do the kit or the VR station count as training?
No. They are awareness activities: they do not replace the training each standard requires or the employer certification, and the hazard hunt does not replace your workplace inspections.
Let's talk about your plant
Tell us what you want to solve in your plant. Fyware designs extended reality around the equipment and constraints of your operation, and builds it to grow from a pilot to the whole site.
Tom Klukowski, Fyware Partner · Valcre Marketing We reply in under 24 business hours, with scope, timeline and investment range.In the meeting you see the simulator running and what it would take to bring it to your plant, with scenarios adapted to your layout. And if you need to sell it internally, this page is your presentation: share it with your team.