Many companies and their employees regard safety training as requirement and not a culture.  ”Why do I have to sit through this training (weekly, monthly or yearly)?”  is a question often asked the safety trainer.

To make sure that the training program is accomplishing its goals, an evaluation of the training can be valuable. Training should have, as one of its critical components, a method of measuring the effectiveness of the training. A plan for evaluating the training session(s), whether written or thought-out by the employer, should be developed when the course objectives and content are developed. It should not be delayed until the training has been completed. Evaluation will help employers or supervisors determine the amount of learning achieved and whether an employee’s performance has improved on the job. Among the methods of evaluating training are:

1. Student opinion. Questionnaires or informal discussions with employees can help employers determine the relevance and appropriateness of the training program;

2. Supervisors’ observations. Supervisors are in good positions to observe an employee’s performance both before and after the training and note improvements or changes; and

3. Workplace improvements. The ultimate success of a training program may be changes throughout the workplace that result in reduced injury or accident rates.

However it is conducted, an evaluation of training can give employers the information necessary to decide whether or not the employees achieved the desired results, and whether the training session should be offered again at some future date.

Improving the Program

If, after evaluation, it is clear that the training did not give the employees the level of knowledge and skill that was expected, then it may be necessary to revise the training program or provide periodic retraining. At this point, asking questions of employees and of those who conducted the training may be of some help. Among the questions that could be asked are:

1. Were parts of the content already known and, therefore, unnecessary?

2. What material was confusing or distracting?

3. Was anything missing from the program?

4. What did the employees learn, and what did they fail to learn?

It may be necessary to repeat steps in the training process, that is, to return to the first steps and retrace one’s way through the training process. As the program is evaluated, the employer should ask:

1. If a job analysis was conducted, was it accurate?

2. Was any critical feature of the job overlooked?

3. Were the important gaps in knowledge and skill included?

4. Was material already known by the employees intentionally omitted?

5. Were the instructional objectives presented clearly and concretely?

6. Did the objectives state the level of acceptable performance that was expected of employees?

7. Did the learning activity simulate the actual job?

8. Was the learning activity appropriate for the kinds of knowledge and skills required on the job?

9. When the training was presented, was the organization of the material and its meaning made clear?

10. Were the employees motivated to learn?

11. Were the employees allowed to participate actively in the training process?

12. Was the employer’s evaluation of the program thorough?

A critical examination of the steps in the training process will help employers to determine where course revision is necessary.

It is estimated that over 40 million workers in the United States had to receive emergency medical treatment for workplace-related injuries in the year 2003. This is a staggering number when one considers the efforts most companies have put into maintaining a safe workplace. In modern times, a number of companies have been found liable for injuries sustained in their places of business. There is a relationship that exists between workplace safety and profitability.  As we know, over the past 10 years the number of work related injuries and deaths has declined.  In fact, being “at work” is the safest place many people can be.

Every company, especially those involved in industrial manufacturing, is constantly looking at ways to continuously improve their products and processes. They realize that their profits are directly related to the ways and means by which they produce their products. Unfortunately, too many companies get caught up in drive for higher profits and tend to allow workplace safety to become an afterthought.

The costs associated with operating a large manufacturing facility in America are astounding. Workplace injuries place a massive burden of expense and weakened productivity on a company. These injuries can be reduced with proper planning and careful attention to detail. Most workplace injuries are preventable. There are a number of factors to consider, but maintaining a safe and tidy work area is one of the best ways to prevent injury. Workers, too, have a responsibility in keeping themselves safe from harm.

Workplace injuries place a significant burden on health care providers and insurance companies. As companies continue to pay higher premiums for employee health care, one of the only means available for cost recovery is to increase the prices of the goods they produce. This places the burden of expense on the consumer, and allows companies to ignore the root cause of their workplace injuries. The focus here seems to be on maintaining a healthy relationship with shareholders, and not necessarily on maintaining a healthy workforce.

It is interesting to note that there are record numbers of jobs, especially in the industrial sector, being sent overseas. There are a number of reasons to account for this. One of the most significant reasons is that American companies are able to shave their operating costs down to a fraction of their domestic costs, by capitalizing on cheaper labor in foreign markets. Foreign governments, eager for investment, are all too willing to accommodate the interests of big western business. Far too often, this comes at the expense of workplace safety.

If companies want to be profitable in the long term, they need to reexamine their approach to workplace safety and the health of their workers. Many companies are sending jobs overseas, in order to take advantage of cheap labor and relaxed labor laws. American companies can be both profitable and safety conscious. Through directed education campaigns and preemptive planning, workplace injuries can be reduced in a significant way. Remember: a safe worker is a happy worker, and a happy worker is a productive worker.

ReCellular, a leading electronics sustainability firm, recently announced a new partnership with TerraCycle to establish over 1,000 “phone brigades” by the end of the year, building on a similar concept previously launched by TerraCycle. The brigades will collect and donate cell phones, raise funds for local causes and keep e-waste out of landfills.

“Economic, social and environmental sustainability have been at the core of our business long before the term ‘triple-bottom line’ was coined,” says Chuck Newman, CEO and founder of ReCellular. “Today, we are proud to be a part of the emerging green economy, and to partner with an innovative company such as TerraCycle. We look forward to expanding this relationship over the coming months.”

The Phone Brigade program could be a way to earn money for your favorite charity.
The partnership provides a solution for TerraCycle to expand their upcycling efforts to include consumer electronics. First launching the Brigade concept in 2006, TerraCycle pays schools and non-profits to collect 20-ounce soda bottles. Today, more than 20,000 participating locations are part of the Brigades, and the programs have raised more than $100,000 from millions of reused and recycled soda bottles, yogurt cups and snack wrappers. This money, primarily, has been donated to public-school organizations.

According to TerraCycle, the company “decided to expand their upcycling collections to help address the estimated 65,000 tons of cell phones that are discarded every year.” Cell phones contain both hazardous chemicals and valuable materials for reclamation, making them ideal for recycling.

Anyone can sign up to participate in the TerraCycle Phone Brigade, and volunteers will receive donation boxes for collecting and shipping phones. Brigades will be compensated for each item they collect, which provides schools and other grassroots organizations with new ways to fundraise.

The phones will be delivered to the ReCellular phone processing facility, where they will be either refurbished and reprogrammed for reuse, or are recycled to reclaim materials needed to make new electronics equipment.

In 2008, ReCellular collected over 5.5 million phones and raised over $4 million for charities across the country.

The excerpt below is from the OSHA Best Practice guide on First Aid.  This publication is free to anyone wanting to improve on the first aid standard from OSHA. 

First aid is emergency care provided for injury or sudden illness
before emergency medical treatment is available. The first-aid
provider in the workplace is someone who is trained in the delivery
of initial medical emergency procedures, using a limited amount of
equipment to perform a primary assessment and intervention
while awaiting arrival of emergency medical service (EMS)
personnel.
A workplace first-aid program is part of a comprehensive safety
and health management system that includes the following four
essential elements1:

• Management Leadership and Employee Involvement
• Worksite Analysis
• Hazard Prevention and Control
• Safety and Health Training
  

The purpose of this guide is to present a summary of the basic
elements for a first-aid program at the workplace. Those elements
include:

• Identifying and assessing the workplace risks that have potential
  to cause worker injury or illness.
• Designing and implementing a workplace first-aid program that:
  • Aims to minimize the outcome of accidents or exposures
  • Complies with OSHA requirements relating to first aid
  • Includes sufficient quantities of appropriate and readily
  accessible first-aid supplies and first-aid equipment, such as
  bandages and automated external defibrillators.

Assigns and trains first-aid providers who:

• receive first-aid training suitable to the specific workplace
• receive periodic refresher courses on first-aid skills and
  knowledge.
• Instructing all workers about the first-aid program, including
  what workers should do if a coworker is injured or ill. Putting
  the policies and program in writing is recommended to
  implement this and other program elements.
• Providing for scheduled evaluation and changing of the first-aid
  program to keep the program current and applicable to emerging
  risks in the workplace, including regular assessment of the
  adequacy of the first-aid training course.
  

This guide also includes an outline of the essential elements of
safe and effective first-aid training for the workplace as guidance to
institutions teaching first-aid courses and to the consumers of
these courses.

So why is Best Practices important?  Chubb estimates workers compensation now accounts for 50 percent of medical care costs. Chubbs The Rewards of Managing Risk; A Guide for Entrepreneurs and Managers helps managers and safety professionals develop a best practice model to build a safety culture based on the “Best Practice” model.  OSHA standards are generally at a minimum standard because they cover a broad base of workplaces from very small companies/organizations to very large businesses.  Everyone has to be able to meet the standards. 

Building a safety culture based on ”Best Practices” means going above and beyond the standards.  Developing practices that create an injury free workplace and having everyone involved from the top down. 

What Best Practices does your company uses?  Let us know and we will pass them along for everyone to see.

Slips, Trips and Falls happen everywhere.  These hazards have much more potential to cause harm in a healthcare setting, where patients are not well and people are in a hurry.  Haste is the number 1 cause of Slips, Trips and Falls.  Here are some helpfuls hints to think of.

Potential Hazard
Employee exposure to wet floors or spills and clutter that can lead to slips/trips/falls and other possible injuries.  
Possible Solutions:

• Keep floors clean and dry [29 CFR 1910.22(a)(2)]. In addition to being a slip hazard, continually wet surfaces promote the growth of mold, fungi, and bacteria, that can cause infections.
• Provide warning signs for wet floor areas [29 CFR 1910.145(c)(2)].
• Where wet processes are used, maintain drainage and provide false floors, platforms, mats, or other dry standing places where practicable, or provide appropriate waterproof footgear [29 CFR 1910.141(a)(3)(ii)].
• Walking/Working Surfaces Standard requires [29 CFR 1910.22(a)(1)]: Keep all places of employment clean and orderly and in a sanitary condition.
• Keep aisles and passageways clear and in good repair, with no obstruction across or in aisles that could create a hazard [29 CFR 1910.22(b)(1)]. Provide floor plugs for equipment, so power cords need not run across pathways.
• Keep exits free from obstruction. Access to exits must remain clear of obstructions at all times [29 CFR 1910.36(b)(4)].

Other Recommended Good Work Practices:

• Ensure spills are reported and cleaned up immediately.
  Use no-skid waxes and surfaces coated with grit to create non-slip surfaces in slippery areas such as toilet and shower areas.
• Use waterproof footgear to decrease slip/fall hazards.
• Use only properly maintained ladders to reach items. Do not use stools, chairs, or boxes as substitutes for ladders.
• Re-lay or stretch carpets that bulge or have become bunched to prevent tripping hazards.
• Aisles and passageways should be sufficiently wide for easy movement and should be kept clear at all times. Temporary electrical cords that cross aisles should be taped or anchored to the floor.
• Eliminate cluttered or obstructed work areas.
• Nurses station countertops or medication carts should be free of sharp, square corners.
• Use prudent housekeeping procedures such as cleaning only one side of a passageway at a time, and provide good lighting for all halls and stairwells, to help reduce accidents.
• Provide adequate lighting especially during night hours. You can use flashlights or low-level lighting when entering patient rooms.
• Instruct workers to use the handrail on stairs, to avoid undue speed, and to maintain an unobstructed view of the stairs ahead of them even if that means requesting help to manage a bulky load.
• Eliminate uneven floor surfaces.
• Promote safe work in cramped working spaces. Avoid awkward positions, and use equipment that makes lifts less awkward. 
   

 As so often happens when the economy turns downward, the non-revenue generating positions are the first to go.  So your company has decided to downsize your department from 3 safety people to 1.  In the past, your department was able to handle the various functions of training, audits, JSA, testing, first aid, an occasional hazardous spill, and more without problems. 

Now you are alone and you decide it is time form your first safety team to help out.  The safety team will give you more eyes and ideas on helping create a safety culture. But how do you start?  Developing a written plan or proposal is a good starting place.  First decide what you want the team to do and how they will do it. 

• How often will the team meet?
• Who will lead the team?
• What will be the teams goals?
• Who should be on the team?
• How will measure results?
• Can the team be empowered?

Presenting you proposal to your manager will help get the ball rolling.  Asking for volunteers is always a good way, but not too effective.  I always encourage people to start at the top.  If you can get the CEO/President or another senior manager to join the team, that will encourage others to follow. 

At your first meeting have a written agenda on what the team will do and how it will accomplish the goals.  Give EVERYONE a chance for input.  I always suggest that different members lead the meetings.  This gets everyone involved.  Start you meetings on time and keep them short (everyone has their regular job to do).  Some suggestions on an agenda are:

• Old business
• New incidents
• Root cause analysis
• JSA
• Ideas for safety awareness programs and/or training
• Any new additional business

After the team starts to develop is own identity, empower them to make some decisions with your guidance.  You can also try some team building events.  These exercises often develop the team into a more cohesive unit. 

Safety teams can be a great asset to your department and the company’s moral.  Build an effective team and everyone wins.

Part of my job is researching and reading articles written about safety and compliance.  I have many different sources (none that I want to testify about) for OSHA, DOT, Homeland Security and more.  One of the reoccurring themes everyone (except me) likes to report on, is who is getting fined and how much it is costing them.  Many of OSHA fines are well over the $100,000 mark, and DOT is similar, if not more.  There doesn’t seem to be a lack of companies or organizations to fine.  Whether it is a Disney, a GE or some small construction company, incidents are still happening and the companies are still paying the price. 

Recently, I read where a construction company got fined over $250,000 for 2 employees getting injured (no deaths).  The company had previously been fined over $100,000 and warned by OSHA.  People have told me that the DOT is now going after companies who ship hazardous materials improperly, fail to provide training, failure to have a security plan and other assorted compliance issues.  These fines are reaching well over $100,000.  Remember the fine is not the only cost of incident.  The general rule is an average incident today cost the company about $25,000.  That company will have to sell an additional $700,000 at 4% gross profit to make up that cost.  That is a lot of additional sales for most companies and that is only if you have 1 incident.  Also there is the loss of productivity, and the probable increase in worker’s comp to add to that total.

So what’s the problem?  Most companies are reactive and not proactive.  Look at how many organizations reach VPP or STAR status as a percent of all the companies in business.  Not too many.  As the economy worsens positions that are non-revenue producing are the first to go, such as training or the safety manager.    Even though we know the safety and trainer indirectly add benefit to the bottom line, it is hard to quantify the amount of money they save a company.

Time is money especially in the trucking industry.  I know there are truck drivers who remove their DOT placards after they leave a company to avoid having the state police stopping them for 30-60 minutes.  What is the safety or transportation manager to do?

Really, I don’t have the answer.  Maybe some of you would like to share your success with our readers.  I only know the problem is not going away nor does it seem to be slowing down much.  Each year the top fined areas of OSHA hardly change.  Statistics show injuries and deaths are going down, but I not so sure that is a good indicator of what’s really happening. The reporting system (if the injuries are even reported) has changed to reflect fewer incidents (no first-aid is reported even if the employee sits out half the day).  As an example, I was doing some DOT consulting at a company and an employee was cut and bleeding.  The employee was put in an office until after work hours and then taken to the doctor.  After a few stitches the employee can to work the next day and was told to sit around doing nothing.  He did not miss a day of work and the incident was not reported on the OSHA 300 log.

Maybe we should look more closely are the amount of dollars fined instead of the number of reported incidents to get a true indicator that we are really in compliance and acting in a safe mode.  Safety professionals are always working to get upper management to support the safety effort, and others say we need the support of the supervisors.  Guess what people?  SAFETY NEEDS EVERYONE’S SUPPORT or there will be a breakdown somewhere.  Just like the production line.  Everyone needs to do the job to make the system work.

Safety Online recently reported that NIOSH, OSHA and NHCA (National Hearing Conservation Assoication), recently signed and agreement  to help prevent work-related hearing loss.  The partners agreement is to provide resources, speakers, recommend best practices and more.

Currently NISOH has a Hearing Conservation Program Evaluation Checklist available.  Over a year ago I reported  on this site, that International Safety Equipment Association petitioned OSHA about reducing the level of noise exposure in the work place.  Now there will be a greater effort to protect workers hearing and make more resources available to employers.

What is a Job Safety or Job Hazard Analysis and how can you use it successfully?