Developing And Conducting A Safety Training Course

OSHA Safety Signs Best Practices Guides

Developing A Safety Training Course

Once the objectives for a safety training course have been established, the course learning activities can be developed.

Learning activities are hands-on activities that allow employees to demonstrate they have learned the necessary knowledge and skills. The learning activity should simulate the on-the-job situation as closely as possible. For example, tasks should be arranged in the same order in which they are performed on the job. If an employee is learning the start-up process for a machine, the sequence might be:

1 - Check that the power source is connected
2 – Check to ensure no materials are in the machine
3 - Check that the machine guards are in place
4 – Turn on the power

Safety Sign Best Practices Guide

A complete reference guide to OSHA Sign Making

When determining the type of learning activity to be included in the safety training course consider the following:

What training resources are available?  Can outside trainers be hired? Are videos available? Are there books or manuals the employee should read?  Should you do one-on-one personal training?

What type of skills or knowledge needs to be learned?  Do employees need to learn physical skills, such as how to use a tool?  Are the skills mental processes or attitudes?  Are there safety hazards involved in learning the skills?

Who is to be trained?  Is this a safety training course for new employees?  For supervisors?  For contractors?

These factors will influence the types of learning activities that will be used, which in turn determine the type of training that will be provided.

The training can be individual or group oriented.  It can include lectures, videos, power point presentations, demonstrations, role playing, self-paced workbooks or computer-based training, on-line training or other ways of teaching.   Whatever the method of instruction, the training should be developed in such a way that the employees learn the needed skill or knowledge and then can clearly demonstrate they can apply what they've learned.

Conducting A Safety Training Course

As much as possible safety training should be presented so that the objectives are clear, and the information is organized and understandable.  The trainer should:

1 – Start with an overview of the material to be learned.
2 - Present the training in a clear, unambiguous manner.
3 – When possible relate the new information or skills to the employee's job, goals, interests, or experience.
4 – Conclude the safety training with a summary of the training objectives and the key points that were covered.

The length of the safety training course, whether it is divided into a number of sessions, the length of the sessions, the frequency of training and the instructional techniques will be determined by the nature of the workplace, the type of employees to be trained, and available resources.

For employees to be motivated to pay attention and learn the material they must understand the importance and relevance of the material.  Ways to encourage positive motivation include:

• Explaining the goals and objectives of instruction.
• Making the training directly relevant to the training to the interests, skills, and experiences of the employees.
• Beginning each session by summarizing the main points to be presented.
• Showing the benefits of training.

The most effective training gets employees involved in the training process. When people actively participate in the training and physically practice the skills or knowledge, they learn and retain the skills or knowledge better.  It also provides the opportunity for the trainer to correct skills or knowledge that were not correctly learned. Methods for involving employees include:

• Participating in discussions.
• Asking questions.
• Contributing their knowledge and expertise.
• Learning through hands-on experiences.
• Learning through role-playing exercises.

Evaluating Safety Training Course Effectiveness

To make sure your safety training course is accomplishing its goals, an evaluation of the training should be done.  Evaluation helps employers, supervisors and trainers determine the amount of learning that was achieved and whether that training was effective in changing employee performance or improving safety.  If an outside service was hired to conduct the training, the evaluation will also determine whether a good value was received in return for the cost of the training.

When the safety training course was developed, a plan for evaluating the safety training course should have also been developed.  The evaluation will look at the objectives of the safety training and determine how well those objectives were met.

Methods for evaluating safety training courses include:

• Student testing.Tests and quizzes administered at intervals after the training can be very effective. A test may involve something as simple as a supervisor watching a machine being started.  Or they may be formal oral or written tests.
• Student opinion. Students can be surveyed with a written questionnaire or through an informal discussion to get feedback on the relevance, usefulness and appropriateness of the training program.
• Supervisors’ observations. Supervisors can informally observe an employee’s performance both before and after the training and note improvements or changes.
• Workplace improvements. The ultimate goal of safety training is to see a change in the workplace that results in a reduced number of injuries, accidents and near misses.  These can be tracked and related to safety training.

The most common approach is to use a combination of these evaluation methods.  The evaluation should be conducted over the entire time period between when the training is given and when refresher training, on the same topic, is provided.

However it is conducted, an evaluation of the safety training course provides the information necessary to determine if the training achieved the desired results. Based on the evaluation a decision can be made concerning offering the same safety training course again, improving the course, or replacing that safety training course.

Improving Your Safety Training Course

If the evaluation shows the safety training course did not achieve its objectives, changes need to be made. Either the training course needs to be modified, or additional training is needed, or the training course needs to be repeated periodically.

To begin the process of learning what areas of the training need improvement ask the employees and instructors a few questions about the training:

• Were parts of the training already known and, therefore, unnecessary?
• Were there parts of the training that was confusing or distracting?
• Was anything missing from the training?
• What did the employees learn? What did they fail to learn? To answer this question it may be necessary to go through the steps in the training process, evaluating each step to spot the need for additional information, and identifying confusing areas and extraneous information.

As the safety training course is reviewed and evaluated, questions such as the following should be asked:

• If a Job Hazard Analysis was conducted, was it accurate?
• Was a critical aspect of the job overlooked?
• Were the important gaps in employee knowledge and skill covered?  How were the “gaps” identified?
• Was material already known by the employees intentionally omitted? How was it determined this material was already known?
• Were the instructional objectives clear and measurable?
• Were appropriate teaching methods used for the type of person being trained?
• Did the learning activity simulate the actual job conditions?
• Was the learning activity appropriate for the kinds of knowledge and skills required on the job?
• When the training was presented was the material organized and clearly explained?
• Were the employees interested and motivated to learn?
• Did the employees actively participate in the training?
• Was the evaluation of the safety training course complete and thorough?

Asking questions such as these, combined with a critical examination of the steps in the training process, will help determine where revisions to the safety training course are needed.

The Importance Of Safety Labels and Signs

The visual aspects of the job is an important part of safety training. Use your DuraLabel printer to create both correct and incorrect labels and signs. Those being trained should be able to identify the incorrect labels. They should also be able to identify locations where visual information, such as a label or sign, is missing or incorrect.

DuraLabel printers are the leading custom label printers used to make safety signs and labels. Quality, ease-of-use, customer support, and high productivity have made DuraLabel printers both the best printers and best values. Call 1-888-326-9244 today and ask about special DuraLabel safety sign kits. You'll be glad you did.