New Employee Safety Orientation: What Your Training Should Include

OK, safety professionals, here’s today’s pop quiz:

How likely is it that new hires will be injured on the job, as compared to experienced workers?

a) twice as likely
b) four times as likely
c) five times as likely
d) no more likely

If you answered c), you’re correct. That startling statistic was, in fact, stated in yesterday’s Safety Daily Advisor article, which also gave key reasons why newcomers get hurt so often.

Chief among those reasons: A dangerous combination of supervisors thinking newbies know more than they really do, and newcomers being afraid to ask questions, lest someone think them less than capable. As common sense would dictate, if one doesn’t explain the hazards, and the other doesn’t ask about them, that’s a recipe for trouble.

What’s the remedy?

Our article quoted experts who recommend making safety training part of every worker’s orientation, by, for example, including a copy of your safety policy in the new hire document pack, and by stressing safety features at your facility while doing the usual new hire walk-through.

There was one more recommendation: formal safety training as part of the on-boarding process. What information should such a safety presentation contain?

Here are some suggestions from BLR’s Audio Click ’n Train PowerPoint® program, New Safety Employee Orientation. It’s a 28-slide customizable training tool, with a professionally recorded soundtrack for multisensory learning.

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Trainees learn more when you use both sight and sound to teach them. BLR’s Audio Click ‘n Train: New Employee Safety Orientation has both. Click for information.

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–Lay out the objectives. Your presentation should make the point that every worker can make (and is expected to make) an important contribution to organizational safety by identifying, and fixing or reporting hazards and near-misses, and by responding appropriately to emergencies and evacuations.

–Note specific learning. The BLR program tells workers they’ll be learning the basics of several different areas of safety.

–Warn against horseplay. Those new to the job may be tempted to “fool around” with equipment they’ve never used before. Such antics can be deadly.

–Explain the worker’s role in security. Newcomers may take a narrow view of safety as primarily accident prevention, but they need to understand that keeping unauthorized persons out of the workplace is also a safety measure—and that it’s done through vigilance and careful handling of identification systems such as badges and codes.

–List safety information sources. It’s vital that workers know where to find the knowledge they need to be safe, including the location of safety bulletin boards, and the names of safety supervisors or members of the facility’s safety committee.

–Give detailed safety information. The BLR program offers specific slides, in easily digested bullet format, on (1) housekeeping, (2) fire hazards and response (including extinguisher use and technique,) (3) ergonomic cautions, (4) safe lifting and materials handling, (5) PPE types and use, (6) electrical hazards and protective measures, and (7) hazardous chemicals.

–Ask for questions. The BLR program has multiple slides designed to elicit questions.

Why Train With Audio:

Educators know that material that reaches the learner through multiple senses is far more likely to be retained. Such as proven to be the case with Audio Click ’n Train: New Employee Safety Orientation, in which both full-color slides and a soundtrack reach the student via different paths to the memory center of the brain. We also use both male and female voices, a far more attention-getting technique than a droning, continuous voice of only one gender.

Of course, including audio also has a special advantage for you: It frees you of the tiresome chore of reading or making up a narration as you go along. If you’re not a born presenter (and few of us are), you’ll find this both an easier and more effective way to reach your training goals.

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Let BLR’s Audio Click ‘n Train: New Employee Safety Orientation make that all-important first safety talk even more memorable. Click to learn more.

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What’s more, the program slides are customizable. You can add a map of your facility, specific hazards to avoid, or other site-specific information. Key supporting items including a full trainer’s guide, handout, quick quiz with immediate answers, and attendance form are all included.

Importantly, in today’s tight budget environment, the program’s cost is modest—just $149—and it’s offered on a satisfaction-assured basis. If it disappoints in any way, simply return it at our expense for a full refund. For all these reasons, we strongly recommend it.

For more information or to order, just click on one of the links on this page. And to see and hear sample slides with audio, click here.