How to Provide Employee Safety Training

Everyone wants to feel safe at work, and by law all employers are required to provide employee safety training to help this happen. Be it general safety issues or hazard control, every workplace presents its own unique hazards. Employees need to have the skills to be safe in the office in order to prevent injuries.

Things You'll Need

• OSHA fact sheets
• Training materials and documentation sheets

Instructions

How to Provide Employee Safety Training

1. Survey your workplace for safety concerns in order to present relevant training exercises. While all businesses should provide general safety training about things such as fire safety and general hazard awareness, other instruction will need to be industry specific. Topics can be as varied as information about how to lift correctly, how to deal with the effects of specific workplace chemicals or how to set up an ergonomically correct workstation.

2. Create a safety committee or appoint a safety awareness officer. Such a person or committee can be responsible for reporting hazardous work conditions, providing training to new employees and making sure that all appropriate workplace safety posters and safety sheets are displayed in prominent and visible places.

3. Check government regulations about the frequency and type of training you are required to provide. The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration's website (OSHA) has set guidelines for workplace safety training that must be provided by organizations that employ a certain number of employees (see Resources below).

4. Invest in a series of workplace safety training materials, such as workbooks and DVDs. It's helpful and cost-efficient to have training that needs to be provided to all new employees--and on a annual basis--on hand, and it saves the cost of hiring an outside consultant every time. Additionally, many recorded trainings can be self-led. The National Safety Council (NSC) offers a variety of OSHA compliance training packages at its website (see Resources below).

5. Document training and retain training records. All workplaces are subject to review by OSHA inspectors, and by law records including the trainer's name, the date, the training topic(s) and a list of those who attended must be kept on file for a minimum period of 3 years.

Tips & Warnings

• There are strict rules regarding employee training that must be provided in certain industries. For example, if employees are exposed to bodily fluids in the course of their work, an employer must provide training in alliance with OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogen safety requirements.

Resources

• U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) for compliance guidelines
• Training materials at NSC.org