We all support safety training. And even better, effective Safety Training is what we are all for. Safety training that employees can use. Safety training that helps employees perform safer work activities and reduces (or eliminates) dangerous actions.
But safety training can’t be just a matter of luck. It is a concentrated, coordinated effort that requires lots of planning and knowhow. We will be looking at ways to make safety training more efficient and safer in the workplace.
Tips for Safety Training
Here are some ways to improve your safety training. These tips will ensure you are on the right track.
Notice that the first two steps do not directly relate to safety training. However, they are related to safety as a whole. We think they’re good starting points.
- Identify Your Hazards
Inspecting the workplace for hazards is the first thing you should do. If you don’t understand the hazards you are trying to protect workers from, your safety training won’t be very effective.
- Control Your Hazards
You can follow the hierarchy of controls, which safety experts call a great model to help you do this. The hierarchy gives you a basic pattern to follow to manage hazards. Try elimination first, substitution next, engineering controls third and work practice controls fourth. PPE must always be the last resort. Also, remember that sometimes you may need to combine different types of controls
- Know Your Safety Training Regulations
It is also a good idea to review safety training requirements set by regulatory. First, compliance is good. Although compliance with the law is good, there are two better reasons to inspect safety training regulations.
- Get a Safety Training Method
It’s a good idea for safety training to be delivered using a trusted, proven method. Safety Training Academy that will guide you or train you to decreases accidents, injuries and illnesses.
- Know Your Learning Objectives
An initial step in designing training is to develop a set of learning goals. These learning objectives will guide your employees in what they should do as a consequence of your training. When you choose the right learning objective, then your training can be designed to teach that action and create tests to determine if employees are capable of performing those actions. In other words, your learning objectives will guide everything in your training.
- Know Your Employees
Training with your employees in mind will increase your chances of them “getting” it and making you a safer worker. Do they prefer training in the field or classroom-style? Do they prefer to begin training with some learning and then discuss it in a group setting? Are they comfortable reading written material? What are their previous knowledge levels on the topic and what knowledge can they use to compare with new knowledge? Your training will be much more effective if your employees are well-informed.
- Acknowledge and Understand the “What’s in It For Me?” Issue
If they understand the importance of training for their jobs, employees will pay more attention. It’s a good idea to explain how training will protect them at work, or better yet, to ask them how it is related to their jobs. You should design your training to be relevant to the actual working environment of your workers. Do not simply read off safety regulations. It’s too abstract. Personalize it.
- Active Learning
One of the principles of adult learning we mentioned earlier is active learning. It is believed that people don’t learn by sitting still and listening to lectures. They learn when they are active. They can lead the training session or participate in a Q&A. Training that encourages active participation by workers will result in a better workplace.
- Know Your Adult Learning Principles
Learners refer to adult learning principles as “What’s the in it for me?” and “Active learning”. As you might have guessed, adult-learning principles are what make adults more likely learn. Your training will be more effective and safer if it includes these adult learning principles.
- You can write and speak.
Use the right language for training materials and speaking during training sessions. To ensure effective training, you need to use a conversational tone as well as the language used by workers.
- Discover the combined power of pictures and words
We are visual creatures. We get most of our information from our eyes. Training with visuals can be very beneficial. Effective training can be achieved with good visuals (pictures and movies, real-life objects Research has shown that training that combines well-designed visuals with words is even more effective. This is due to the fact that our brains have both images and words processing centers.
- Understanding the Importance of Testing
Training is good but testing your employees is also important. This will ensure that they can understand important concepts and/or show they can perform job tasks safely before you send them to the floor. You must test. Without testing, you can only hope people have learned.
