Training

Providing Comprehensive Safety Training—Great Idea! And Cost-Effective, Too

Yesterday, we recounted the story of an employer found liable for failure to provide required safety training. Today, we tell the tale of an employer that escaped a similar fate by providing excellent training.

When the painting company got the contract to paint a highway bridge, scaffolds were suspended from horizontal cables fastened to the bridge. And because painters would be working 30 feet above the ground, a personal fall arrest system, to be secured directly to the bridge, was required and issued to each scaffold worker.

One of those workers—we’ll call him Roger—was an experienced painter who had worked with the company for 12 years. During that time, he’d participated in the company’s safety training program and had been thoroughly trained in the use of fall protection.

Roger, like all employees, had also signed a statement accepting responsibility for following all of the company’s safety procedures.

Furthermore, the worksite was well supervised, and the site supervisor had consistently observed Roger wearing the required fall protection.


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The Accident

So why wasn’t Roger wearing fall protection the day he fell 30 feet from the scaffold to his death? Nobody but Roger really knew the answer.

The executor of Roger’s estate sued the company for wrongful death. He claimed Roger’s death had been caused by dangerous working conditions.

The company countered that had Roger been wearing fall protection as required, he would be alive. The company claimed it had an exemplary safety program designed to protect workers from accidents. The company also claimed an exemplary safety record—15 years in business and never an injury caused by a fall.

The company described mandatory safety training sessions held every Monday and short daily “toolbox” talks. During those sessions, employees, including Roger, had been specifically trained in the use of the personal fall arrest system and instructed that they were required to use fall protection whenever they worked on the scaffold.

The Decision

The employer did all it could to prevent the accident, ruled the Ohio Court of Appeals. An employer cannot be held liable for an employee’s injury when it has taken measures that would have prevented the injury had they been followed. While the court was mindful of the tragic circumstances of this case, the justices agreed that the employee, not the employer, was at fault.

The Message

This employer’s comprehensive training program proved to be a power defense in this case. Holding regular safety meetings, providing training specific to job hazards, and providing appropriate PPE and requiring its use all served to protect the employer from liability.


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Protect Workers and Your Organization

Effective, comprehensive safety training protects both your workers and your organization. And that kind of double-barreled protection is what you get from BLR’s Employee Training Center.

Unlike many training solutions available on the market today, Employee Training Center courses are routinely reviewed and updated to reflect changes in federal regulations or best practices. Each training course is developed by BLR lawyers, industry experts, and instructional designers who have experience across a wealth of industries, topics, and compliance areas.

Courses keep participants interested with engaging audio, built-in exercises, and key points to remember. At the completion of every course, individuals take a quiz designed to test for competency in all the course material presented. Quiz results and course completion times are automatically recorded.

Every course can be tailored with supporting and custom documents. BLR provides supporting documents for courses that include complete slide show notes and the answer key for the included quiz. As the administrator, you have the option of displaying uploaded documents and requiring review before the session begins. This is especially useful for company policies or worksite-specific information. Supporting materials can be added, edited, or removed at any time.

With only a few minutes’ setup, you company will have a complete Web-based training program with professionally developed courses, employee testing capabilities, and systematic documentation of employee training sessions and scores. And remember, BLR® Employee Training Center courses can be delivered at individual employee desks, in computer centers, at training kiosks, or even in a classroom.

No wonder BLR® Employee Training Center was named “Best Workforce Training Solution” by the Software Information Industry Association. It can help you launch a cost-effective and successful employee training program.

We urge you to sign up for a no-obligation demo by visiting the award-winning Employee Training Center. Or, feel free to call our customer service people toll-free at 866-696-4827.

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