Page 48 - OHS, June 2021

FACILITY SAFETY
Five Ways to Optimize Manufacturing Worker Safety Training
An in-depth report shows you how to conduct efficient trainings for employees.
BY HOLLY MOCKUS
Workplace safety training remains a top priority for manufacturing companies that understand the importance of keeping their employees safe and protecting their bottom line. Many manufacturing leaders believe productivity can rise dramatically if employees consistently follow workplace safety rules. However, they also know that even with their best efforts applied to training, some employees still won’t follow workplace safety protocols on the floor.
What’s the disconnect in this scenario? Why are companies finding it difficult to train and motivate employees to work safely? And why aren’t employees listening?
Based on our recent survey of manufacturing facilities, the ability to deliver proper safety training is impeded by three main challenges: finding time, verifying that training is effective and an inability to follow up with refresher training.
We all know it’s difficult for management to shut down operations and set aside quotas to conduct training. However, workplace injuries have the potential to create extraordinary expenses and disruptions to production. Companies that provide
effective safety training create an environment where employees are more likely to share best practices with each other.
When companies are measured strictly by production output, management may believe this means employees must be productive every single minute they’re clocked in which makes time for training non-existent.
To overcome this hurdle, safety professionals must show senior management how workplace safety training can positively impact production and profits. One way to do this is to connect training deliverables to company goals by measuring how good safety behaviors help meet production demands. This means stressing the importance of safety training beyond regulatory compliance and potential litigation.
Verifying the effectiveness of training is among the biggest challenges for manufacturing management. For some companies, training is conducted for the sole purpose of checking a compliance box. The real benefit of training should be based on whether or not it is effective enough to drive behavior changes.
For training, context and repetition are critical. Companies
44 Occupational Health & Safety | JUNE 2021
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