Workplace Safety Tips

Danger lurks around everywhere. However, when it comes to the workplace, it is part of the corporate responsibility to ensure the safety of its employees. Merely keeping the right kind of safety products and personal protective equipment in the premises is not enough to maintain the safety of employees.  It is equally imperative that you educate your employees by offering safety training at regular intervals. You need to remind your employees of the potential dangers and train them how to protect themselves in times of emergency before helping others. The aim and objective of safety training are to create awareness of the dangers that exist, demonstrate and outline the important steps to take in times of emergencies by organising mock drills, and ensure that your organisation is compliant with industry standards. If you promote safety training effectively, you can help to develop a safe working environment for your employees. This article provides you with some useful tips to promote workplace safety.

1. Workplace Safety Training to Facilitate Retention

Usually, during safety training sessions, a lot of new information is shared at once with the employees who make it challenging for them to retain and absorb all the information at one go. So, a good way to deal with this issue is to break the training session into modules or parts so that they can retain the information shared with them. To check if they have completely understood the content taught during the sessions, you should monitor their progress by making a note of how well they are using the best safety practices on the job. If you are not satisfied with the results, you should reinforce training so that they can apply the new knowledge in the workplace.

2. Provide Appropriate Safety Training Materials

You should ensure that you provide all the required materials as per the order of the steps to accomplish a particular job. In other words, safety training needs to be quite methodical in its approach. If the safety knowledge is transferred to the employees or workers in the order in which they perform on the job, it becomes easier for them as well to put it into practice.

3. Promote the Importance of Applying Safety Changes

Safety training is not just about attending the training sessions. In fact, you tend to learn the most when you apply those learning experiences in times of need. Hence, you need to consciously apply safety changes to injuries, accidents, incidents, or illnesses at the workplace. It is important that whenever there is an accident at the workplace, you should apply safety changes at the earliest.

4. Keep Your Employees Abreast Regarding Policy Updates

You should keep your employees updated if there is any change in the workplace safety policy of your organisation. Regular and timely updates help to keep your employees abreast with the changes made and also makes them aware of the importance of workplace safety.

5. Practice Scheduling Regular Refreshers

If your employees work in an environment where there is an increased risk for accidents, you need to roll out these safety training as regular refresher courses, so that there is increased retention amongst the workers.

6. Promote and Facilitate Open Communication

Ensure that the safety officers and executives keep the lines of communication open at all times so that workers feel encouraged not only learning but also sharing their feedback. If employees share about their preferred learning style and the need for additional training, it is very much beneficial for an organisation. It helps you to understand the hands on experience of your workers regarding certain safety procedures.

7. Ensure Your Employees are Engaged During Training Sessions

You should keep your employees attentive and engaged during these safety sessions by providing scope for hands-on training and demonstration and setting up Q&A discussions. This will keep them engaged and also encourage them to think of the practical usage of tips in their day to day work life.

8. Adopt a Follow-Up and Employee Monitoring Mechanism

Once the training is over, you should consciously monitor their progress by watching them do their jobs. You should also ask them to identify what they know and what they do not know about the best safety practices about their type of job. Continue to apprise them regarding workplace safety and provide them regular feedback so that they are aware of what they are doing properly.

9. State Real-Life Incidents during the Training Sessions as Examples

Safety training is most effective if your employees can relate to real-life incidents. So ensure that your trainer shares a lot of real life examples so that it leaves a permanent impression on the minds of the workers.

10.  Customise Your Training Depending on the Employees’ Area of Work

It is important for you to customise these safety training, like every job, equipment, and machine. The safety skills and knowledge also varies accordingly. Keep your training employee specific based on their area of work.

As an organisation, it is significant that you follow these safety training tips all throughout to keep your employees aware and safe. Safety training keeps your business safe from legal hassles by preventing workplace accidents and also helps in increasing the productivity of your employees.