In yesterday’s Advisor, we looked at three ways to make sure that your introductory training works for your workforce. But training is never a one-and-done proposition. Build a training program that continually reinforces your safety message with three more fundamental strategies.
A truly effective safety program is one that encourages continual learning and improvement. Here’s how to create a training program that consistently reinforces your safety training.
Revise
The information you gave to workers may go out of date quickly, or conditions in the workplace may change after training is completed. Are you changing out a hazardous chemical for a less hazardous one? Adapting your forklifts to run on batteries rather than propane? Installing newer machines with updated guards? Be sure to regularly revisit your training materials and update them—and then pass along those updates to workers.
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Review
Workers have a lot on their minds. Everyday concerns can crowd out the things they need to be thinking about in order to work safely. Regular review sessions, in the form of toolbox talks, impromptu chats on the work floor, paycheck stuffers, posters and signage, can all help to remind workers of what they need to know and do to work safely.
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Retrain
Sometimes, you’ll need to conduct a formal retraining session—either because the applicable OSHA standard requires it or because you’ve observed something that suggests to you that workers could benefit from a thorough refresher course. When you conduct a formal retraining course, make sure to highlight:
Some lagging indicators you should track include:
- Any new or updated material
- Any problems that you have observed putting the information and skills into practice
- Any changes that have been made to the workplace in order to improve safety
Training is an essential component of your safety program, and like any broad program, it has a lot of pieces. Let us put some of them in place for you, with BLR’s 7-Minute Safety Trainer.