5 Step Guide to Draft a New Safety Training Program for Your Business

5 Step Guide to Draft a New Safety Training Program for Your Business

All businesses are unique, irrespective of whether they belong to the same industry or employ a similar number of people. When it comes to “Safety Training Programmes,” there is no such thing as “one-size-fits-all.”

Workplace safety is not just, about knowing where the emergency exits are. To achieve workplace safety, you need to focus on building a safety culture at work. To build a sustainable safety culture and a healthy attitude to safety at work, you need an effective training program customized to the specific requirements of your business.

Here, in today’s guide, we take a look at the steps involved in creating a safety training program for your business.

Step 1: Identify the Needs of your Business

Before you build a training program for your business, you need to have a thorough understanding of the training needs of your business.

To understand the specific needs of your business, you have to conduct comprehensive research using the following methods – process and operations observation, industry regulations, interacting with employees, finding the local, state and national safety laws, and reviewing the current training methods (formal and informal) that are taking place.

Apart from these, you need to conduct in-depth interviews with workers to understand their safety needs, and find out the causes of previous workplace accidents.

Here are a Few Questions to Help You Evaluate the Safety Needs of Your Business:

1. What are the hazards present in your workplace? Heavy machinery, electricity, confined spaces, hazardous chemicals, etc.?

2. What is the current emergency plan used by your business for fire accidents, natural disasters, workplace violence, severe weather, medical emergency and more?

3. Do you meet the safety laws and regulations specified by your government?

4. How do you demonstrate your compliance to safety to inspecting authorities?

5. What is the budget that you can allocate for safety training?

6. How much time can you allocate for your safety training program?

7. What training programs do you already use? How effective are they?

8. What language do you plan to hold the safety training program in?

9. Do specific employees require special training for handling special equipment?

10. What are the types of accidents/injuries that have occurred in the workplace? Or are likely to occur?

11. Do your employees violate any safety regulations? If yes, why do they do so?

12. What are the types of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) used by employees? And, why do they need them? Do they need additional PPE?

Step 2: Identify the Objectives of Your Safety Training Program

Once you have collected information regarding the safety needs of your business, the next step is to use this information to identify and create the objectives of your training program.

One of the major goals of all safety training programs is – legal compliance. Businesses want to ensure that they comply with all the rules and regulations set by local and central governments. This is essential to avoid fines.

The second main goal of all safety training programs is to ensure the safety and well-being of all employees. Both these goals are important and must be achieved by your safety training program. Setting measurable objectives for your training program is the best way to achieve both these goals.

Here are a Few Examples of Safety Training Program Goals:

  • Comply with all safety laws and regulations.
  • Reduce workplace incidents and accidents.
  • Reduction in loss of productivity, due to safety-related downtime.
  • Improve workplace efficiency and productivity without compromising safety.
  • Inculcate a safety culture at work.

Identifying the goals of your safety training program is essential to decide what types of training to provide your employees.

Step 3: Deciding What to Include in Your Safety Training Program

The next step is choosing – what topics to include in your safety training program. For instance, if you find that your workplace uses forklifts, and there have been a couple of accidents related to forklifts, then you understand that including forklift operation training is a must in your safety training program.

On the other hand, if the majority of workplace accidents at your business is due to employees falling off from ladders, then your safety program should include a topic on trips and falls and ladder safety.

To ensure that the safety training you provide your employees is comprehensive, make sure that you include topics on all potential hazards. Don’t ignore the obvious. Start from basic topics and work your way upward to advanced topics.

Step 4: Determine When, Where and How the Safety Training will be Conducted

The next step involves figuring out the details about your safety training programs. Here are a few questions to consider:

  • Will you be conducting the training sessions in a classroom? Or do you plan for online training sessions? Both these methods have their pros and cons:
    • Classroom Training – It’s the traditional method of safety training. And, all employees receive training at the same time.
    • Online Training – Here, employees log into the online training programs whenever their schedule permits and the pace of the training program matches different individual speeds.
  • What is the duration of the training program? One-day or multiple day courses spread across months?
  • Who will conduct the training sessions? An in-house manager or an external safety specialist?
  • Do you plan to conduct refresher training sessions?

Step 5 – Begin the Training

Now, you are ready to put your training program to work. Ensure that all employees in your organisation know about the schedule of the training program. Attendances are compulsory and ensure that employees are aware of what the program entails and what it expected from them to be a part of the program.

Once you conduct the training program, collect feedback from employees. Find out what’s working and what needs to be changed. If employees are hesitant to provide feedback openly, get them to drop in their criticism anonymously.

The Big Picture:

Implementing a safety training program is hard, especially if you are not an expert in safety. If you have any difficulties implementing any of these steps, get in touch with our safety experts here at Totalika. Our team can create a tailored safety training program that fits your business requirements perfectly. Give us a call at +91 124-661-3137 to get started.

About The Author

admin