How to keep the risk of work accidents at minimum level.
The employer has to ensure that workplace is safe for their employees and to ensure that the risk of accidents is at minimum level. He also must have an overall safety program. This should consists of topics like personal protective equipment, safety practises or workplace hazards. There are two basic reasons to provide safety training. One is to teach someone to perform a task safely and second is to increase safety awareness. But how do we know if the training is effective?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an agency of the United States Department of Labor, which mission is to prevent different types of accident at work that may cause injury, illness or death, has written voluminous workplace safety standards and regulations that affect employers and employees. OSHA says that an effective training program can even reduce the amount of property damage, legal liability and missed time from work. So if you are an employer and don`t want to have troubles with any kind of personal injury claim and make workplace a safety place just read this leaflet based on OSHA`s training guidelines for trainers.
1. Before you even start the training try to think about the problem you have. Consider if a situation can be solved by using training. It`s a good solution to problems such as employee unfamiliarity with equipment or lack of motivation. Even so, sometimes other methods, may be needed to ensure safety.
2. You have to also identify training needs. To do that the trainer can for example observe the worker in his environment to qualify his training needs.
3. Next try to define your objectives. It is better to deliver them using action oriented words like: the employee… `will be able to do…`. This will help listeners choose what they should know by the end of the class. Clearly established objectives also help focus.
4. Ensure that learning excercises simulate most reliable the real job activities. In this case trainers can include role-playing or round-table group discussions, this can stimulate employee participation.
5. At the beginning of the training program the employees should know why the material is so important to their jobs. It is common that students pay more attention and apply what they`ve learned if they know the benefits of lectures.
6. Then try to evaluate the training to know the amount of learning achieved. Do it with special questionnaires for students or informal discussions, by the supervisors` observations or formal exams.
7. When you review the evaluations it may become clear if the training wasn`t accurate and the employees didn`t reach the expected level of knowledge and skill. As the program is evaluated trainer should ask himself few questions connected with statements: Were objectives presented clearly and concretely? Did activities simulate the actual job enough? Were the employees motivated?
