If you keep the lights burning 24/7 for round-the-clock service or production, you know that providing adequate safety training for your shift workers is a formidable challenge. The key to success in scheduling training for shift workers is accessibility.
Pull them off the line or pay them overtime?
Our Safety Training Tips editor says that if you can afford to pull people off the line or shut down an operation in order to train, that’s probably the best option—and the one with which shift workers will be happiest.
But if you can’t do this, another option is bringing workers in before their shift or keeping them after and paying them overtime for training. The problem here, aside from the expense, is that it’s often inconvenient for employees. And that means you might not find them at their most receptive, which can result in failure to learn what they need to know.
One solution to this problem is to break long training sessions into bite-sized bits, or modules. That way, you might be able to free up trainees during their shift for short periods. Even if you can’t, this approach limits employee time commitment and minimizes interference with personal after-hours plans, which will likely enhance their commitment and attention.
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Bring them in on their day off or staff up an extra crew?
Of course, with 12-hour shifts, adding even an extra hour for training is difficult at best. If you train after the shift, workers will just sleep through the session and be exhausted on their drive home. If you do it before, they lose prime sleep time.
Some companies solve the problem by bringing employees in for training on their days off and paying them for their time. If you do this, be sure to schedule training sessions in the afternoon so that you don’t cut into shift workers’ sleep time.
Let them schedule their own training?
Why not? With today’s tech-powered training options like online training and self-directed CD, DVD, and PowerPoint® training programs, letting shift workers schedule their own training time may provide a simple, efficient, and cost-effective solution. Although this approach may not be suitable for all types of training or all training content, it can be an answer to tough scheduling problems when other options aren’t practical or available.
Shift workers can set aside small blocks of time, either during their shift, if possible, or before or after, to get through a module or two of training material. They can even take training materials home if they want. The upside is that by being able to choose their own training time, shift workers may be more receptive and learn more. The downside is that you have to set up some kind of monitoring system to make sure they actually complete required training within an established period of time.
A great source of these training programs—and safety solutions such as the one presented here—is BLR’s Safety.BLR.com. For example, the website contains more than 30 training and reference materials on the topic of shift work¯ranging from PowerPoints to meetings to handouts to white papers to OSHA directives and more. And shift work is just one of more than 150 topics in Safety.BLR.com, which was recently re-launched in a new and improved Version 2.0.
In addition to its comprehensive—and plain-English—compliance resources, Safety.BLR.com meets all your safety training needs with thousands of audio presentations, PowerPoints, meetings, toolbox talks, trainer’s guides, and much, much more.
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