According to this article, requiring certain safety training for specific employees who will not need it based on their job duties is a mistake many companies make (for example, enforcing a Fall-Protection training class on a receptionist). When a specific class is not relevant to the employee’s role it can, in turn, cause the employer’s safety processes and efforts credibility to lower and seem pointless to employees.

By assessing and analyzing employee training needs, you can decide on a more focused direction for your safety training. This, in turn, will strengthen the impact of your company’s occupational safety culture and therefore be applied efficiently.

Safety training should be specific, relevant and concise. Here are three methods of determining your adequate selection of safety implementation:

  1. Through a hazard analysis – The use of a preliminary hazard analysis allows for an employee’s job duties to be broken down and analyzed for hazards. Upon the determination of the applicable hazards, appropriate safety training (among other proactive measures) can be prescribed. A few of the other common hazard analysis methods that can be beneficial to determining employee training needs include: the Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), the Job/Task Hazard Analysis (JHA/THA) and the Hazard and Operability Study (HAZOP).
  2. Through a Training Needs Assessment questionnaire – Another common method of determining employee training needs is through a comprehensive Training Needs Assessment questionnaire. Historically, this type of questionnaire has been completed in a paper format, but Web-based or electronic formats are user-friendly, precise and allow regulatory and client-specific needs to be uploaded into the system. Consistently updating this information helps organizations remain on the cutting edge in their client service and government compliance.
  3. Through other methods – Training needs can also be determined through employee interviews, job observation (which is also a component of a job/task hazard analysis), focus groups and analyzing accident and near miss data and statistics.

For more information on safety assessments and implementation, visit our consulting webpage at https://safetylinks.net/index.php/consulting