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Workplace Safety Training:
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Why Do We Need It?
Why is workplace safety so important? There is more to this question than you think. In a day and age where people still get injured on the job, you would think safety would be a banner held high by everyone, but unfortunately it isn’t. Money and apathy seem to be the two leading reasons why safety sometimes takes a back seat. Therearetwoobviousreasonswhyworkplacesafety should be a priority: preventing employee injury and death. These two reasons should need no explanation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 5,190 workers killed on the job in 2016, 31 were from South Dakota. It is estimated that a worker is injured every 7 seconds on-the-job. Improved safety training and awareness can help save lives and reduce injury.
Thereisalsothefinancialimpactofemployeeinjuriesand death. It is in the best interest for both employees and entities to put safety first, minimize the risk to life and therefore reduce potential financial loss and property damage. When an entity puts their employees first and implements proper safety training and then enforces it, several positive results happen. These positive results include an increase in worker productivity, the quality of service improves, and your entity ’s reputation and public So why should you want to develop a workplace safety training program or refresh your current program? Becauseyouknowthattrainingforsafetyisthemostcosteffective way to protect your most precious asset: your employees. Workplace safety training is a process that aims to provide your employees with the knowledge and skillsneededtoperformtheirworkinawaythatissafefor them and their co-workers. In addition, an effective workplace safety plan includes instruction and guidelines to identify hazards, report them, and deal with incidents.
As an employer, it is your legal (and moral) responsibility toinstructyourworkershowtoperformtheirjobdutiesin a safe and healthy manner before they even start to work. Safety training is an integral part of new employee orientation, but it also requires regular “refresher” courses for compliance and effectiveness. Regularly scheduled safety meetings can help combat complacency which is a danger in every workplace. Additionally, safety protocols change and these meetings can help employees keep up withchangesinprocedures,equipment,materialsandroles within your departments.
Beyond the obvious reasons of preventing employee injuries, there are plenty of advantages to investing more time and thought in a well-planned workplace safety and loss control training program. Here are a few: lower contributions for liability and worker’s compensation coverage, less productivity loss due to injury or illness, increased employee morale, protection from liability lawsuits and future incident prevention.
What are some steps that you can take to establish an effective workplace safety training program?
1. Identify the needs of your entity, potential hazards and training objectives. Analyze past
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incidents (claims) and common industry hazards for your various departments. Figure out which issues need to be addressed through training.
2. Involve your employees in developing, implementing and optimizing the training program. It is important to get input from your department heads, supervisors and workers.
They have the best understanding of how work gets done and where dangers to their safety and health exist.
3. Develop a training plan that includes which training topics apply to all departments and the training needs of individual departments. For example, emergency preparedness and harassment prevention training apply to all departments while office ergonomics and mobile equipment safety will apply only to specific departments.
4. Train department heads and supervisors in the safety requirements for their departments. This will allow them to identify issues with employee compliance with your safety rules. Remember, leaders must model and promote safe work practices each and every day.
5. Haveyoursupervisorsmonitoryouremployeesat worksites. This can help you determine how effectiveyourworkplacesafetyprogramisbefore an accident forces you to discover it is not.
6. Provide continuous and easy access to safety training content to let employees refresh their memory when necessary. For example, employees who were instructed on how to safely perform a task six months ago and they haven’t performed the task since, might want to refresh their skills before performing the task now.
Safety training programs today are very different from those made a decade ago. New technologies are responsible for the most obvious changes in the way we communicate. This affects the way we train and complete tasks. The SDML Workers’ Compensation Fund and the South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance understand this. Both risk-sharing pools strive to provide the most up-todate training opportunities for their members. The following are some of the latest training opportunities that the pools offer their members at no charge.
On-site Training
This past year the pools presented just over 160 regional on-site instructor led training classes for members on over
Online Training
ThroughservicesprovidedbyFirstNetLearning,members have access to online training on several different topics. Thesecoursescanbeaccessedthroughthepools’ websites. Once a course has been completed, employees can print a certificate of completion. Members can grant certain employees with administrative rights, so they can assign and track the progress employees are making on various courses.
SD DENR has approved several of these courses for contact hours that can be used for water and wastewater recertification. MSHAalsorecognizesonlinetrainingthat qualifies towards the 24 hours of new miner training that isrequiredbeforeanewemployeecanworkinagravelpit unsupervised. There are several online training courses that are available that will qualify towards this requirement.
DVD Library
The pools maintain a DVD library on various safety and riskmanagementtopics. TitlesfortheDVDscanbefound on their websites. Each year new and updated titles are added to the library.
“Take Time for Safety”
This is a series of 39 different training topics that can be used for “tailgate” or “toolbox ” safety meetings. These sessions are designed to take 10 to 15 minutes each. Each course comes with a trainer outline, a handout, a quiz, a registration roster and a certificate.
Streaming Safety Videos (SDML Workers’ Compensation Fund Members Only)
Through an agreement with Aurora Pictures, SDML WC Fund members now have free access to streaming videos. Members have immediate access to over 1,000 safety videos. All a member needs are a computer and internet access. To sign up for this service, go to the SDML WC Fund website and follow the instructions.
Mobile Classroom (SDML Workers’ Compensation Fund Members Only)
Members can receive classroom and “hands-on” training on confined space entry and excavation safety using a mobile classroom. Instructors will come on-site and provide training on these 2 high-risk tasks using some of the latest equipment that is available today for employee safety.
