EFFECTIVE SAFETY TRAINING

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EFFECTIVE SAFETY TRAINING

• For Everyone

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For your consideration...

• The majority of accidents / injuries are related
  to un-safe behavior, not un-safe conditions.
• therefore...........
• The majority of safety is getting adult people to
  change their un-safe behavior.
• Thats not easy to do.

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• We've all heard that different people learn
  differently. The biggest problem with this idea
  is that you probably have a mixed bag of workers
  to train, some older, some younger, some
  motivated, some not.
• Let's take a moment to look at some tips for
  improving your training program.

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Your Target Audience

• Generational issues sometimes influence the
  audiences ability to absorb information.
• Younger people entering the job market are used
  to the MTV effect. (fast edit, music, etc.)
• An older employee will usually follow a procedure
  because he has been instructed to, while a
  younger person may ask Why should I do it that
  way?
• The same old training content no longer keeps
  their attention.

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Four Points to Consider

• Action - Get people up and moving, changing
  seats, or searching for something in the room.
  You can't sleep if you are walking around.
• Simply having the audience stand up and stretch
  for a few seconds can wake a sleepy crowd up for
  a few minutes.

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• Interactivity - Get the group talking. "I'll give
  10 to the first person who can tell me the topic
  of last months safety meeting. You will get
  responses.
• Ask questions.
• Form workgroups.

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• Relevance - Mix into your training
  cause-and-effect stories from accidents in
  similar operations.
• Even better would be examples from your own
  workplace.
• Show them why they should care.

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• Humor - Always a good idea, gets people engaged.
  Use related cartoons on your overheads or
  PowerPoints. Start off with a joke. Finish with a
  joke.
• For example,
• One time hardly anyone showed up for a safety
  meeting. The invited speaker for the
  poorly-attended meeting asked, "Did you tell them
  I was coming?" "No," was the reply from the
  safety manager,
• "It must have leaked out."

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Or, for example, if you are talking about
accident investigation training...........
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If you are designing a training course on winter
weather safety then.................
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• Laugh at yourself as the instructor.
• People don't want to learn from experts. They
  want to learn from real people who have great
  expertise.
• Laugh at yourself along the way.

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• And, finally, the most important point is YOU.
  You need to establish credibility. The best way
  to do this is to be prepared. Go over what you
  want to say. Have all your material gathered
  together. Use an outline. That way you won't be
  reading a script, but yet you have the basic
  points to follow.

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Credibility

• As an effective instructor, you need to
  establish credibility.
• Credibility comes from knowledge of the subject,
  past experience, and self- confidence.
• You are not credible if you have to actually read
  the presentation in front of the audience, or if
  you cannot answer their questions.

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When enough is enough......

• Know when to give your audience a break. You
  cant hold a crowd in place for hours on end and
  be effective.
• (think of the biology involved)
• You should give your class a short 10-15 minute
  break every hour or so.

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Using Video Tapes

• Videos have their place, however......
• Videos are a passive form of instruction which
  require no active work on the part of the
  audience.
• Should be limited in both running time and number
  of videos used.
• Must be pertinent to the employees perspective
  of his / her job, i.e., current information
  related to the job.

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Example of a Good Video

• The following video clip shows the importance of
  wearing a seat belt when operating a truck.
• It is important to point out that this video clip
  shows what happens when a truck that is sitting
  still rolls over.
• In real life the truck would be traveling forward
  at speed, and the violence shown could be
  multiplied by a factor of 10.

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Was that example effective?
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• Personal instruction, in combination with
  video, personal experience and other training
  aids is a more effective means of training than
  video alone.

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Other Possibilities

• Can you think of other training aids, props, etc
  to jazz up your presentations?
• Fire extinguishers?
• Weight lifting bars?
• Ask employees involved in accidents to speak to
  the group about their experience?

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Tell me, show me, make me show you................
..

• If you tell them, they will remember little of
  what you told them.
• If you show them, they will remember slightly
  more.
• If you then make them show you, through
  demonstration, they will remember most, if not
  all, of the material.

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Examples.....

• If you are performing safe lifting training, set
  a trash can next to the door and ask that each
  employee demonstrate the correct lifting
  technique as they leave the room.
• If you are performing container handling
  procedures, have a wheeled container set up in
  the parking lot and have the employees
  demonstrate how to properly move it.

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Whats in it for me?.......

• If you cannot demonstrate to the audience that
  the information you are trying to convey directly
  relates to them, you have failed to facilitate
  effective training. They will not remember what
  you told them.

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Example...

• If you are discussing personal protective
  equipment, specifically eye protection, ask one
  of the employees to tell you how losing their
  eyesight would affect the rest of their life,
  from today until the end.
• Ask them to describe in detail how that would
  affect them and their family. Dont let them just
  say It would be bad.
• They will now have a better understanding of
  why it is important to wear the gear.

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Language literacy barriers

• According to National Geographic Magazine, the US
  Hispanic population is now the majority minority.
• To be effective, you must address any language
  issues in your training.
• This can be done using a translator, either
  separating the class by language or combined into
  one large class.

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• Sometimes existing and new employees may have
  adult literacy issues.
• Be sensitive to this.
• Try to identify these employees and work with
  them discretely to find a way to be effective.

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Be Creative

• Try to think of ways to jazz up your
  presentation.
• Use visual aids
• Create a safety game show
• Use guest speakers
• Give away prizes
• Tell jokes
• Use graphic pictures when possible next page
  please.........

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If you are talking about vehicle clearance
heights or raised boom alarms.........
A picture is worth a thousand words.
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Topics to Consider

• Lockout / tagout
• Confined space
• Bloodborne pathogens
• Hot load procedures
• Safe lifting
• Heat stress
• Ergonomics
• Personal protective gear
• Fall protection
• Welding cutting
• Hand signals

• Cold stress
• Alcohol drug abuse
• Electrical safety
• Machine guarding
• Fleet safety
• Hearing respiratory
• Fire extinguisher use
• Emergency response
• Off the job safety
• Fit for duty
• Vehicle inspection
• Cell phone / radio use

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Additional topics...

• Equipment specific procedures
• Tire maintenance
• Hand power tools
• Grinding spray painting
• Compressed air safety
• Clearance hazards
• Container placement
• Downed power lines
• Cranes, chains slings
• Driving topics

• Equipment danger zones
• Site traffic control
• Flammable liquids
• Asbestos
• Dog bite prevention
• Abrasive wheel safety
• Blind spots
• Mirror adjustment
• Shop safety
• Seatbelt use
• Defensive driving

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Where to find training materials

• The Internet
• Your peers
• Past personal experience
• Library
• Commercial training material producers
• www.OSHA.gov
• Consultants

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Questions?