Everybody has probably had the experience at one time or another of nodding off while watching a boring safety video. Such videos typically promote the same messages in the same way, that you had better pay attention to the topic because said topic could kill or maim you yada yada yawn yawn. How do you cut through all that and get employees to pay attention to an important message that could save their lives?

Well, here’s a great example of rebranding a tired old genre, and like much new media these days it comes from Europe: a German forklift safety video (posted on an Icelandic website) that’s intentionally funny and riveting. Fear not, you don’t have to understand German to enjoy and profit from it, though you do need to be patient at the beginning and stick with it for the first few minutes while our hero, Klaus, graduates from forklifter school (or whatever — hey, we don’t speak German) and begins his first day of work piloting a dangerous steed in a giant industrial warehouse. Soon after that, the pace begins to quicken.

We recommend that any company that has safety issues have their employees watch this instead of the usual timid fare. But hang in there until the end to get the full flavor.

UPDATE: It turns out that the reason the video is intentionally funny is that it IS a comedy, a spoof of traditional safety videos, and you can even pick it up on DVD. Thanks to German-speaking Margaret Marks of Transblawg who alerted us via Abnu the Wordlab maniac. We still think corporations around the world should use this video to boost workplace safety.

UPDATE 2: We found the official website of Forklift Driver Klaus – The First Day on the Job, where the film is described as “An homage to industrial safety educational films.”