723 Conducting OSH Training

The 7-Step OJT Process

Step 1: Introduction

• Introduce yourself and welcome the employee(s). Give them a little background about your position, experience, and training.
• Tell the student what you're going to train. "Today we're going to learn how to..." You might be training a:
• process (a number of procedures);
• job/procedure (containing a number of steps); or
• task (part of a job/procedure - how to put on a harness).
Discuss the acceptable standards of knowledge and performance. For dangerous tasks that could result in an injury if not performed correctly, your students should be able to perform at the 100% skill level. There's no room for error.
• Discuss natural and system consequences. The natural consequences are "hurt" or "health". If they don't do the task safely, they'll get hurt. Remember tough-caring leadership approach from course 712 Safety Supervision and Leadership ? It applies nicely to the OJT process. Tell them you're going to have high expectations for their performance (that's being tough) because you care about their safety. The most effective OJT occurs when students know you care about their safety.
• Tell them why it's important. Emphasize the importance of the procedure to the success of the production/service goals. Again, when students know why the task is important, they're more likely to follow safe procedures when not being directly supervised.
• Invite questions. Questions are most likely to come later during the training. Emphasize personal accountability and discipline (leadership). Discipline is using the correct procedure each time and every time, even when you don't feel like it.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.