Biggest Obstacles to Adequate Safety Training

Safety training is essential to protect workers from on-the-job injuries or fatalities. While some employers fail to provide adequate training and don’t prioritize employee safety, others want to do the right thing and ensure their staff is safe. Unfortunately, even employers who want to provide safety training may encounter certain obstacles in their efforts. conference-room-with-tv-1419673-m.jpg

Prioritizing safety training is a smart business choice for companies. Not only can they avoid the risk of fines by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) but they will also have a healthier workforce and won’t have as many workers’ compensation claims. Workers who are injured on the job can make a workers’ compensation claim regardless of employer negligence, and should consult with an experienced work injury lawyer. Because workers’ compensation is a strict liability system, the only way to avoid claims for employers is to avoid injuries in the first place. This means employers need to find creative ways to overcome training obstacles to achieve the benefits of effective training.

Obstacles to Safety Training

Recently, Safety News Alert published the results of a survey asking safety professionals what their biggest safety training headaches were. The safety professionals indicated that the biggest problems included:

  • Scheduling safety training at a time that worked for employees. A total of 33.1 percent of safety professionals said this was their biggest obstacle to effective training.
  • Keeping training fresh. A total of 20.9 percent of safety professionals said coming up with new ideas for training was their biggest challenge.
  • Helping employees to remember what they had learned. This was the biggest challenge cited by 20.9 percent of survey respondents.
  • Keeping up with the OSHA-required training. Meeting OSHA obligations was the biggest problem for 10.9 percent of safety professionals.
  • Doing the presentations. A total of 4.3 percent of survey respondents had issues with actually conducting the presentation.
  • Developing safety training. This was cited as the biggest obstacle by just 3.6 percent of survey respondents.

When asked to rank their challenges on a scale of one to 10, with one referring to issues that weren’t a problem at all and 10 referring to issues that were a “major headache,” a total of 33.5 percent of safety experts said that getting employees to remember what they learned was ranked eight, nine or 10.

Overcoming Safety Training Obstacles

Some safety pros provided tips for overcoming these obstacles and making training effective. Options include:

  • Making short video clips on safety that last between one and five minutes. Videos can actually be taken of employees while at work. The workers can identify hazards and explain ways to reduce or eliminate them.
  • Asking other employees to demonstrate safety situations for the group. Giving constructive criticism is easier when you do it as part of a training presentation and people who are active participants in the presentation may remember it more.

It is also essential to remember that even experienced employees should undergo refresher training so they can continue to make workplace safety a top priority.

Call Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers for a free and confidential appointment — (617) 777-7777.

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