Engaging Employees In Safety Training

 

How to Design an Industrial Safety Training Program That Works

 

An effective safety training program shows your employees they are of paramount importance to you. Engaging them in learning will help ensure they retain all the safety information that will keep them protected.

Capturing worker feedback during the process of identifying training needs, designing materials, and choosing delivery methods can provide important insights. You can do this in various ways:

Identifying Training Needs

To create an effective safety training program, it's vital that employees know exactly what they must learn to perform their jobs safely. For maximum effectiveness, this process should involve both workers and managers so that all aspects of the workplace are covered.

If your workplace contains potentially hazardous chemicals like hydrogen sulfide, you may require employees to undergo training on how to recognize and report such substances as well as how best to store and dispose of these materials according to company policy.

Some safety training is designed to create awareness among employees; for instance, making sure they know that hydrogen sulfide smells like rotten eggs and is heavier than air, remaining nearer the ground when released. Other courses focus on specific procedures (e.g., how to safely use an extinguisher) with hands-on learning activities required.

Once you've identified the training needed for your employees, the next step should be creating materials. Training experts often suggest using blended learning solutions to achieve maximum retention and accessibility for employees.

Implement online microlearning resources or create geofenced mobile training resources available only on-site. Furthermore, include moments in training where employees self-monitor how well they understand what is being taught - this practice known as metacognition allows employees to better recall safety information.

Developing Training Materials

Once safety professionals have identified their training needs, they must develop materials for use during the program. This includes writing course material itself, setting learning objectives, and deciding how it will be distributed - with interactive hands-on training being recommended as one way of keeping employees interested and engaged.

A collaborative approach, where workers participate in creating and optimizing training programs ensures they make sense to both new hires and long-standing employees alike. To develop optimal materials, safety professionals need to understand both worker hazards and learning. Therefore, it is recommended to engage workers directly in this process in order to ensure maximum impactful materials.

Integrating visual images in safety training materials is essential, from adding pictures to PowerPoint slideshows or drawing them out on white boards, to using online safety training courses which combine text with images for increased effectiveness of training.

Mobile safety learning (m-Learning) provides numerous options for training delivery while making health and safety information available to employees during work as performance support or reference material. You can utilize any number of online tools to quickly create mobile safety training resources that can then be shared easily with your workforce.

Providing Training

Once your safety training program has a plan in place, its implementation must follow suit. This step involves making sure all learning activities your employees participate in fulfill your training objectives. This includes providing all necessary materials, resources, and methods of delivery; this may involve interactive training (also known as eLearning). This type of learning involves real or mock scenarios to promote practical discussion and gain hands-on experience. Worker safety training via mobile device (m-Learning) allows them to access safety information and training at their convenience and provides them with an efficient method for reviewing their progress.

An additional step you must take to ensure your training meets its goals is establishing an ongoing monitoring and assessment system, which includes reporting injuries, illnesses, incidents, near misses as well as employee concerns about their job or workplace. In addition, creating this procedure for soliciting suggestions from workers about improving training processes or facilities from your workforce will be crucial.

Remind your employees that their safety lies with them. Encourage and motivate them to attend training, participate in hazard analysis, and take measures to avoid accidents and injuries.

Assessing Training

Evaluating your safety training program regularly is vitally important. A variety of methods, such as course surveys and anecdotal feedback can be used to gauge its success; but ultimately the key indicator should be whether its programs have decreased workplace accidents and injuries.

Consider including employees in the evaluation process by gathering their input on what type of hazards they face, how they learn, and their preferences for learning and delivery methods - for instance, whether they prefer self-paced online training over instructor-led classes; whether they wish to participate actively in discussions, or simply listen and absorb information.

Establishing learning objectives is also essential to this process. These should be carefully written out, outlining any desired awareness, skill, behavior, or procedure you are hoping to impart on employees. In ideal cases, they should relate directly to daily job tasks to maximize relevance and ease of application.

Finally, it is necessary to establish the measures used to evaluate training and its success. These may include quizzes or tests, post-training surveys, on-the-job observations or audits that track how workers are adhering to safety procedures learned in class. No matter which metric is selected, tracking progress over time will help measure its success as well as provide data for any future changes that might be required.