Transcript SAFETY TRAINING - The United States Conference of Mayors

EFFECTIVE SAFETY
TRAINING
For Everyone
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.
That’s not easy to do.
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.
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.
Four Points to Consider
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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 month’s
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.
• 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."
Or, for example, if you are
talking about accident
investigation training...........
If you are designing a
training course on winter
weather safety
then.................
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.
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.
Credibility
• As an effective instructor, you need to
establish credibility.
• Credibility comes from knowledge of the
subject, past experience, and selfconfidence.
• You are not credible if you have to actually
read the presentation in front of the
audience, or if you cannot answer their
questions.
When enough is enough......
• Know when to give your audience a
break. You can’t hold a crowd in place
for hours on end and be effective.
(think of the biology involved)
• You should give your class a short 1015 minute break every hour or so.
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 employee’s
perspective of his / her job, i.e., current
information related to the job.
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.
Was that example effective?
Personal instruction, in
combination with video,
personal experience and
other training aids is a more
effective means of training
than video alone.
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?
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.
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.
What’s 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.
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. Don’t let
them just say “It would be bad”.
They will now have a better understanding
of why it is important to wear the gear.
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.
• 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.
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.........
If you are talking about vehicle clearance
heights or raised boom alarms.........
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Topics to Consider
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Lockout / tagout
Confined space
Bloodborne pathogens
Hot load procedures
Safe lifting
Heat stress
Ergonomics
Personal protective
gear
• Fall protection
• Welding & cutting
• Hand signals
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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
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
Where to find training
materials
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The Internet
Your peers
Past personal experience
Library
Commercial training material producers
www.OSHA.gov
Consultants
Questions?