Lesson 2

 Training of Personnel on OSH

Education and Training

Education and training are important tools for informing workers and managers about
workplace hazards and controls so they can work more safely and be more productive.
Another role of education and training, however, is to provide workers and managers
with a greater understanding of the safety and health program itself, so that they can
contribute to its development and implementation.

Education and training provides employers, managers, supervisors, and workers with:

 Knowledge and skills needed to do their work safely and avoid creating
hazards that could place themselves or others at risk.
 Awareness and understanding of workplace hazards and how to identify,
report, and control them.
 Specialized training when their work involves unique hazards.

Additional training may be needed depending on the roles assigned to employers or

individual managers, supervisors, and workers. For example, employers, managers, and
supervisors may need specific training to ensure that they can fulfill their roles in
providing leadership, direction, and resources for the safety and health program.
Workers assigned specific roles in the program (e.g., incident investigation team
members) may need training to ensure their full participation in those functions.
Effective training and education can be provided outside a formal classroom setting.
Peer-to-peer training, on-the-job training, and worksite demonstrations can be
effective in conveying safety concepts, ensuring understanding of hazards and their
controls, and promoting good work practices.

Step 1: Provide Program Awareness Training

Managers, supervisors, and workers all need to understand the program's structure,
plans, and procedures. Having this knowledge ensures that everyone can fully
participate in developing, implementing, and improving the program.
How to accomplish it:

 Provide training to all managers, supervisors, workers, and contractor,

subcontractor, and temporary agency workers on:
o Safety and health policies, goals, and procedures
o Functions of the safety and health program
 o Whom to contact with questions or concerns about the program
(including contact information)
o How to report hazards, injuries, illnesses, and close calls/near
misses
o What to do in an emergency
o The employer's responsibilities under the program
o Workers' rights under the Occupational Safety and Health Act
 Provide information on the safety and health hazards of the workplace and
the controls for those hazards.
 Ensure that training is provided in the language(s) and at a literacy level that
all workers can understand.
 Emphasize that the program can only work when everyone is involved and
feels comfortable discussing concerns; making suggestions; and reporting
injuries, incidents, and hazards.
 Confirm, as part of the training, that all workers have the right to report
injuries, incidents, hazards, and concerns and to fully participate in the
program without fear of retaliation.

Step 2: Train employers, managers, and supervisors on their roles in the program
Employers, managers, and supervisors are responsible for workers' safety, yet
sometimes have little training on safety-related concepts and techniques. They may
benefit from specific training that allows them to fulfill their leadership roles in the
program.
How to accomplish it:

 Reinforce employers, managers, and supervisors' knowledge of their

responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the
workers' rights guaranteed by the Act.
 Train employers, managers, and supervisors on procedures for responding to
workers' reports of injuries, illnesses, and incidents, including ways to avoid
discouraging reporting.
 Instruct employers, managers, and supervisors on fundamental concepts and
techniques for recognizing hazards and methods of controlling them,
including the hierarchy of controls.
 Instruct employers, managers, and supervisors on incident investigation
techniques, including root cause analysis.

Step 3: Train workers on their specific roles in the safety and health program
Additional training may be needed to ensure that workers can incorporate any assigned
safety and health responsibilities into their daily routines and activities.
How to accomplish it:

 Instruct workers on how to report injuries, illnesses, incidents, and concerns.

If a computerized reporting system is used, ensure that all employees have
the basic computer skills and computer access sufficient to submit an
effective report.
 Instruct workers assigned specific roles within the safety and health program
on how they should carry out those responsibilities, including:
o Hazard recognition and controls
o Participation in incident investigations
o Program evaluation and improvement
 Provide opportunities for workers to ask questions and provide feedback
during and after the training.
 As the program evolves, institute a more formal process for determining the
training needs of workers responsible for developing, implementing, and
maintaining the program.

Step 4: Train workers on hazard identification and controls

Providing workers with an understanding of hazard recognition and control and actively
involving them in the process can help to eliminate hazards before an incident occurs.
How to accomplish it

 Train workers on techniques for identifying hazards, such as job hazard

analysis.
 Train workers so they understand and can recognize the hazards they may
encounter in their own jobs, as well as more general work-related hazards.
 Instruct workers on concepts and techniques for controlling hazards,
including the hierarchy of controls and its importance.
 Train workers on the proper use of work practice and administrative controls.
 Train workers on when and how to wear required personal protective
equipment.
 Provide additional training, as necessary, when a change in facilities,
equipment, processes, materials, or work organization could increase
hazards, and whenever a worker is assigned a new task.
Types of Occupational Safety and Health Training

A. Induction Training

This is a kind of OSH training which aims to provide guidance and aid the newly hired
employees to settle and adjust to the new environment, colleagues, procedures, and
activities, among others, brought about by a new workplace. Induction training delivers
a comprehensible overview of the organization as well as the facilities it offers.

Some of the topics included in this kind of training are the following:
 workplace orientation
 fire safety and emergency procedures
 first aid
 health and safety (such as risk assessments or accident reporting procedure)
 welfare facilities
 safe use of workplace tools, machinery, equipment
 risk assessments
 maintenance or storage of personal protective equipment.

B. Refresher Training

Refresher training is implemented to provide to employees who possess existing

skills have become outdated or obsolete and needs to be upgraded. This could be
because of the advancement of technology or simply that people can forget things.
Employees could become complacent with safety procedures which could lead to
mistakes or errors which is why it is important to refresh employees’ knowledge and
skills from time to time.

C. Toolbox Talks

A toolbox talk, unlike the first two types of training, is an informal workplace safety
meeting. This kind of session is intended to communicate vital safety information to
employees which will help facilitate health and safety discussions as well as promote a
positive safety culture within the organization. It mainly focuses on various safety topics
that are related to any specific workplace activity.
Toolbox talks can be used to discuss the following:
 hazards
 safe systems of work
  risk assessments
 training needs
 health and safety updates
 incidents and accident investigation updates
 new equipment.
The talks can be done face-to-face, at shift handovers, planned huddles or in a
short presentation. They are often kept short and can be carried out by managers,
supervisors, or even fellow workplace colleagues.

Key Benefits of OSH Education and Training (Garrod, 2020):

1.It Increases Employee Awareness. Employee training in health and safety is

invaluable to educate your team members on the various hazards in the workplace and
how to manage them. Quality health and safety training will cover workplace hazards,
how to identify them, how to address them, and how to avoid these hazards occurring
in the first place.

2.It Reduces Accidents and Injuries. Workplace incidents can range from minor
illnesses and injuries to life-threatening accidents and conditions and, in the extreme,
death. Training is not guaranteed to 100% eliminate all incidents, but it will put your
team in the best position to avoid them and reduce accidents and illness to a minimum
level.

3.It Helps Retain Talent. Investing in the health and safety of your employees, and
promoting this through related training, shows your team that you value your
employees, a critical part of great hiring and retention strategies. Ensuring your
employees’ health and safety also prevent work-related injury or illness which could
see temporary or permanent absences from work.

4.It Makes Employees More Productive. Better health and safety training means that
there are less likely to be work-related accidents and illnesses, which cause absences
from work. Left unchecked, these kinds of absences can cripple a company’s
productivity and greatly damage performance. Promoting better health and safety
practices through effective employee training can save your business significant
amounts of money by avoiding productivity losses.

5.Employees Will Be More Invested In Workplace Safety. Comprehensive training in

workplace health and safety not only increases team members’ awareness and
knowledge in this area, but also their investment in the process. It is well documented
that the promotion of health and safety in the workplace leads to employees taking
individual responsibility to ensure that theirs is a safe workplace. This means that the
whole team will be actively promoting a safe work environment and identifying and
addressing issues as they may arise.

6. It Will Reduce Stress. Health and safety training can cover strategies to manage
stress in the workplace. These may range from personal strategies that individuals can
implement, to broader, workplace-level strategies which management could consider
reducing the stress levels of their employees.

7. It Will Encourage Communication. Often incidents occur because employees fail to

notify their supervisor or colleagues about issues, problems, or hazards. Good health
and safety training will educate employees about how to effectively communicate on
these matters and empower them to do so.