Training or Something Else
Worker training is essential to every employer's safety and health program. The time and money it takes to train workers is an investment that pays off in fewer workplace accidents and lower insurance premiums. Effective training also helps inexperienced workers, who tend to have higher injury and illness rates than experienced workers. Ideally, safety and health training should occur before exposure or accidents occur.
Training should be conducted or repeated if an observation, near-miss incident or injury accident occurs due to a lack of knowledge, skills, or abilities (KSAs). Problems that can be addressed effectively by training include those that arise from lack of knowledge of a work process, unfamiliarity with equipment or incorrect execution of a task.
When Training is the Solution
Training is likely the solution when unsafe performance is due to the following surface causes:
- Lack of Knowledge (K). New and current employees must be trained anytime unsafe behavior is observed due to a lack of knowledge. As an example, when given the requirement to enter a confined space, employees have no idea how to open and enter the space.
- Lack of Skills (S). Employees may know what the steps of a procedure are, but lack the skills to do the procedure safely. For example, employees may have watched a video on using fall protection, but they have not yet practiced using the equipment.
- Lack of Abilities (A). Employees may know the steps of a procedure and how to do it safely, but they may not be physically or mentally capable of performing the procedure safely. For instance, employees may not be able to lift heavy objects, or they may have a fear of heights.
When Training May Not be the Solution
Training may not be the solution for when unsafe performance is observed for the following root causes:
- Lack of Support. If the culture doesn't support training, the worker is less likely to follow procedures that were trained. As an example, if employees are stressed and pressured to work fast, they may intentionally take unsafe shortcuts.
- Lack of Motivation. If the worker doesn't care about the job, no amount of training will help. For example, if a supervisor constantly ignores an employee performance, they will not be as likely to care about their safety performance.
- Lack of Focus. To be successful, employees must pay attention to the job in a "sober and focused" manner. If employees are under great stress at work due to any reason, they may be distracted or "somewhere else" in their minds causing unintentional errors.
It's important to know that all of the above causes may exist due to "root cause," or weaknesses in the safety management system. To solve the surface causes, the root causes must first be addressed and corrected.
Finally, no amount of training is likely to improve workplace safety unless you make it part of an effective, integrated Safety and Health System (SMS).
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-2. Training an employee is less likely to solve a performance problem if the employee lacks _____.
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