How well insulated is your organization from safety-related lawsuits? Here are some suggestions for dealing with three common sources of potential trouble.
Any time people enter your workplace, there’s a risk (however slight) that something could go wrong and give rise to a safety-related lawsuit. For example:
- An outside contractor skimps on safety training and supervision of its workers, and an accident puts you in the middle of a costly lawsuit.
- A visitor to your workplace who isn’t wearing safety glasses in an eye hazard area sustains an eye injury.
- An inadequately trained employee causes an accident that injures three co-workers.
You can never be too careful when it comes to staying out of court., so here are some suggestions for doing just that.
Contractors
- Be choosy. Select your contractors carefully and use only licensed professionals. Do a little research and check out your prospective contractor’s safety history and training records. Have they been frequently cited by OSHA or MSHA? If so, they might have the lowest bid because they are skimping on good safety practices and training.
- It’s all in the contract. Build language into your contract that explains who is responsible for safety. Be specific, especially with regard to training and equipment.
- Train the temps too. Temp companies often provide general safety training to employees, but your company should decide up-front who will be providing job-specific safety training. Whether you provide that training to temps or not, be sure the quality is something you can stand by and stick to that policy.
Try a demo of BLR’s remarkable award-winning Training Today at no cost or obligation. Get the details.
Visitors/Customers
- No wanderers allowed. Always know who is coming onto your worksite and what they are doing there. Never allow members of the public to wander through your worksite unattended. Also, examine your insurance policy limits for specific liabilities of nonemployees. Keep in mind that signed waivers aren’t usually worth the paper they are written on, so be sure to have trained employees accompany the visitors on your worksite.
- Use proper signage. If visitors to your worksite speak languages other than English, be sure to post additional warning signs in those languages.
- They need PPE too. If your employees are required to wear PPE in certain areas, visitors in those areas should have to as well. Not only will it protect the visitor, the practice reinforces your safety message to employees.
Employees
- Keep good training records. Train your employees thoroughly and be sure to document the training. Remember that according to OSHA, the training never occurred if you don’t have records of it.
- Don’t skimp on training
Unlimited training! Demo the award-winning Training Today. There’s no cost or obligation. Try it.
Train Today with Training Today
"Don’t skimp on safety training" Truer words were never spoken! And if you want access to a training resource that will lavish your employees with the best safety training available on the market today, then, you want BLR’s Training Today.
Unlike many training solutions available on the market today, Training Today 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 Training Today courses can be delivered at individual employee desks, in computer centers, at training kiosks, or even in a classroom.
No wonder BLR Training Today 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 Training Today. Or, feel free to call our customer service people toll-free at 866-696-4827.