Objective of being a safety officer should be more than checking safety equipments and keeping  them constant state of readiness all the time.Safety officer is also responsible for training of crew regarding safety operations, situational awarenesses, personel safety etc.These task can be improved by helding safety meeting, before operation briefing and implementing ISM code on board with the crew feedbacks. Also debriefing after achieving certain tasks can improve awareness of the mistakes done and how to improve ourselves learning by the mistakes.Good and effective operation based on close loop  communication.Nowadays, a captain or officer is a person that should filter all the ideas that crew might have rather than shouting them all.Crew should be  encouraged to report any unsafe condition and try to improve safe operations at sea.

Most effective way is to carry out the Drills properly. You can plan table top training for specific equipments like donning of SCBA, CPR , etc during these drills. Plan it in their work hours so that they will take interest in learing and listening. If you plan in their off hours or Sunday, chances are they will be grumpy and will physically attend but won't listen.