Page 20 - Occupational Health & Safety, October 2019

CHEMICAL SAFETY TRAINING
Putting Chemical Safety Training to the Test
How to evaluate and improve program effectiveness.
BY PHIL N. MOLÉ
As one of the main pillars of OSHA’s Hazard Communication (HazCom) Standard, em- ployee training is a critical part of not just workplace safety, but your company’s regu- latory compliance. However, HazCom training is also one of the most commonly overlooked elements of safety programs, with many employers struggling to make it effective, engaging, and relevant.
For HazCom training to be effective, those un- dergoing training must be able to comprehend the hazards and understand how to protect themselves. While OSHA does not expect workers to be able to recall and recite all data provided about each hazard- ous chemical in the workplace, the most important aspects of HazCom training are that employees are aware that they are exposed to hazardous chemicals, know how to read and use labels and material safety data sheets, and, as a consequence of learning this information, are following the appropriate protective measures established by the employer.
Outside of these parameters, OSHA gives a signifi- cant amount of bandwidth to employers to determine how they deliver training and ensure that it’s effec- tive. That’s why ongoing evaluation is such a critical component of an effective HazCom training program. OSHA perceives training as a “performance” stan- dard, so its value is judged by whether its objectives are achieved—basically, it makes sure employees ac- tually know what they need to know. Without regular program assessment, it’s impossible to know the suc- cess of your training or if it needs updating.
Following training, we offer practical tips for im-
proving the efficacy of your HazCom training pro- gram to ensure it remains engaging and useful for all employees.
Identify Information Gaps
Surveys and quizzes are an indispensable tool. Aside from scoring workers on what they’ve retained from courses taken, they’re useful for evaluating your com- pany’s overall HazCom training program and help with identifying areas that need to be refreshed.
A good approach is to provide the same quiz to workers before and after training, and then compar- ing the final scores. If most employees incorrectly an- swer a question on the quiz both before and after their HazCom training, it may indicate that course materi- als need to be revised to better convey the information related to that question more clearly.
This practice is also helps to recognize any gaps you may have in your overall HazCom program. For instance, if you ask employees where the SDS binder is located and they all provide difference responses, it might not be an issue with training, but instead that the SDS binder is not located where it’s supposed to be. Without this additional evaluation, you might oth- erwise be unaware of the issue and unable to amend it before an incident occurs or an OSHA inspector visits.
Take Training Out of the Classroom
In the era of varied worker knowledge, retention rates, and talent gaps, the need for more dynamic HazCom training has never been greater. Traditional course les- son methods involving text-heavy presentations and stand-up lecturing are no longer effective for reaching today’s more diverse and technologically-advanced workforce. For HazCom training to be most effective, it must be interactive, participative, and directly re- lated to a worker’s job function.
Employees respond better to HazCom training material when they understand the reasoning behind it. While visual aids help clarify, consider taking it a step further by moving certain course components to the facility floor. This method not only demonstrates the real-life implications of what is being taught but also engages workers more than a classroom setting. It’s also a great opportunity to test your people on the course elements on-the-fly in the actual settings where they would need to know the information quickly. This gives workers the chance to showcase how the lesson applies to their actual work tasks and reinforces why it’s so important to retain the information.
16 Occupational Health & Safety | OCTOBER 2019
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