Educating Employees About Workplace Safety
Safety in the workplace should be taken seriously. Employee injuries not only decrease productivity, they cost money and often decrease team morale.
Educating employees is one of the first things you can do to keep your team safe, but not all trainings are going to be effective. Here are several things you should keep in mind when educating employees about workplace safety.
Make a Continuous Effort Toward Workplace Safety
Workplace safety should be an ongoing effort. Policies, procedures, and equipment can change and it is important all employees are up-to-date and fully aware of all changes. Aim to hold safety trainings often — a minimum of once a month. And, don’t just focus on new hires. Employees who have been with the company for several years still need continuous training and updates on safety regulations. Group text messaging is a proven way to draw staff attention to safety updates and to remind them of training schedules.
Train Specific Roles
In addition to company-wide safety drills, provide trainings for specific roles such as managers and supervisors. These individuals may have more responsibilities such as filling out certain paperwork, contacting emergency personnel, managing the situation, and more. Include these additional and specific responsibilities in your trainings. And, make sure you review these tasks frequently. When accidents and injuries happen, you want a seamless process to help calm down the injured individuals and to prevent any further damages.
Provide Diverse Training
During your trainings, it can be tempting to focus on the incidents and injuries that happen most frequently. And while it is important that your team is prepared for these injuries, they may not be the only accidents that occur. You need to offer diverse trainings on a wide variety of injuries, equipment, hazards, etc.
Involve Everyone
The safety of everyone on your team is important. Text messaging reminders are a great way to ensure your entire team is involved and attending these safety trainings and meetings. But, the involvement of your entire workforce can make hands-on practices difficult and overwhelming. You may choose to hold small group trainings to allow for more practice and the ability to ask questions, but don’t leave anyone out.
Have Fun with the Trainings
Don’t make your employees dread safety trainings. When the trainings are boring and your employees are unengaged, they will retain very little information, making the time dedicated to learning a waste. Rather, you want to be creative and have fun. Watch videos, create interactive training sessions, generate a game show style-like training, and more. Just make sure that the information being presented is accurate, follows all regulations, and is explained clearly.