Get REAL About Safety Training

How effective is your safety training and education? Do employees comprehend and utilize what they learn? This article will explore some common problems and solutions to help improve comprehension, retention of knowledge and application of practical skills in safety.

Training or Education

Although the terms training and education are often used interchangeably, there is a distinct difference. Education is about gaining knowledge rather than practicing a skill and can be accomplished in a classroom setting.

Training is about mastering skills such as performing a task, operating a piece of equipment, or using a tool. Training should be live demonstrations and hands-on practice.

Most managers and supervisors need safety education, while the workers need safety training. There are of course exceptions to this.

Supervisors may need safety education regarding standards and policies and training. A supervisor needs to be trained in how to put on a full body harness for fall protection in order to effectively train employees how to put one on properly. Workers may need less safety education and a lot of training.

The most common training/education problems are:

• Educating managers, but not training the workers
• Educating workers without training them
• Providing ineffective training and/or education for the purpose of regulatory documentation
• Failing to measure comprehension
• Not doing either

An example of how training and education can be confused is the "Tool Box Safety Meeting". These meetings are typically done to satisfy a regulatory requirement but do not provide training.  They are useful to get the word out about job rules and policies.

A typical toolbox meeting consists of a supervisor reading a pre-printed page about some topic such as "safe use of circular saws" then getting the workers to sign the sheet verifying attendance. While this information is useful for educating workers about regulations/requirements, it does little to actually train them how to properly use and inspect the tool.

Another pitfall is using subscription safety topics that are irrelevant to the work exposures. For example, covering a topic such as "snake bites" for employees working on the twenty-second floor of a high-rise construction project (an actual situation I once witnessed).

To make toolbox meetings more effective, pick a topic that is relevant to the current job exposures.  Get the audience involved by asking for suggestions to improve the process. 

Organizations should ask the following questions:  

• Who needs to be educated?
• Who needs to be trained?
• Who needs both training and education?

Determine education and training needs and formalize with a plan tied to accountability.

Common Complaints Regarding Training

• Boring, as exciting as watching paint dry
• Too academic - talking theory, not real life
• Not relevant to the industry
• Too much regulatory government-speak
• Providing OSHA Ten-Hour training in one day (on a Saturday)

Tips For Improving Safety Education:

• Use attention-grabbing statistics, stories, immediately and throughout the session
• Use photos and video clips showing both unsafe situations and good safety performance
• Use props like safety equipment and other field items
• Get audience participation though questions, games, workshops, shared experiences
• Mix up the presentation with demonstrations, activities and multiple instructors
• Make sure instructors are industry experts, not just book experts
• Customize presentations to the specific industry
• Keep it simple!  Avoid over-use of technical jargon and big words
• "See one, do one, teach one". Have supervisors show employees how to do it, let them do it, let them teach other employees. When people teach other people they go the extra mile to learn more detail.
• Use a job safety analysis as a weekly toolbox topic.
• Train supervisors as trainers. Being a good supervisor does not necessarily mean he/she is a good trainer.
• Make sure all trainers fluently speak the language of the workers. In many cases, it is better to groom and promote non-English speaking workers into supervisory / training positions. These individuals will have a much better understanding of language and cultural nuances than an English-speaking supervisor trying to translate.
• Always measure comprehension with an exam or a quiz. Use oral quizzes and demonstrations where literacy issues exist.
• Determine when outside trainers or educators should be utilized.

The Bottom Line:

There is a big difference between education and training. Regardless of which one is being conducted, what the audience wants is:

• "Give me something I can actually use"
• "Involve me, don't just lecture"
• "Entertain me"
• "Provide solutions, not just regulations"
• "Make sure I understand"

Spending the time and resources to provide real training will pay off handsomely in a much safer workforce.

Mike McCarroll, CSP 

President & CEO

PROSAFE Solutions, Inc.