Safety Training Videos Reduce Workplace Accidents with Education

Entering the ranks of “accident free workplace” is often as simple as making sure your staff receives effective education on safety regulations and practices, and one of the most effective ways to accomplish this task is by utilizing safety training videos. There are several reasons why using safety training videos in the workplace can increase your chances of worker compliance and subsequently reduce workplace accidents:

Seeing AND hearing doubles your chances of retaining information: Studies on memory and information retention show that people retain more information when they both see and hear it. While a safety lecture alone may be somewhat effective, a safety training video or DVD combines two sensory elements that will double the chances that the information that is presented will be remembered by staff after they walk out the door and into the factory or industrial area.
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Virtual Instruction With Online Safety Training

Once upon a time, the Internet was considered “the way of the future.” Most people agree that the future has now arrived, and the Internet has changed the way society does business. You’d be hard-pressed to find an American home that doesn’t have at least one computer in it, and as a result, our vast world is smaller than ever before. Businesses and non-profit organizations alike have embraced the computer age and now routinely include a website as part of their business. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the United States is no exception. OSHA is the organization whose mandate it is to write and enforce policy regarding workplace safety and accident/illness prevention. Formed in 1970, OSHA protects nearly every worker in most every sector in the U.S.
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Safety Compliance Tests and Audits

Since the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed in the United States in 1970, it has been the responsibility of OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration) to administrate the OSH Act and protect the working public in America from malady at work.

In partnership with national organizations, OSHA’s main responsibilities are to write policies regarding safety in the workplace, to educate employers and employees on these safety standards, and to ensure that companies understand and comply with these requirements. Nearly every industrialized country in the world has a similar governing body whose responsibility it is to protect its country’s workers and ensure safety compliance by employers, such as the Centre for Occupational Health and Safety in Canada.
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OSHA Safety Training Keeps Pace

OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has a mammoth task, considering there are millions of employers and businesses in the United States. Since OSHA’s mandate is to govern the safety and protection of every worker in the U.S. from workplace accidents, it must find effective ways of communicating with employers and employees alike and making its resources readily available and easily accessible. With new technologies emerging every year, OHSA must constantly evaluate the market and identify what it takes to keep America’s workers safe.

Both OSHA and its counterpart NIOSH (The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) were created as a result of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. This act guarantees safety in the workplace for every citizen in the United States. NIOSH’s mandate involves research into creating safer workplaces, while OSHA’s mandate involves writing policies which govern workplace safety, as well as providing training and education to employers/managers and employees, and ensuring compliance with federal safety regulations in every workplace in America.
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The Benefits of Safety Training in the Workplace

If you are an employer, perhaps you’ve made one of these excuses for not providing safety training for your staff: “It’s too expensive.” Or, “We’re a small operation, it’s not worth the effort.” What about this one: “We never have accidents here.”

While it may seem easy to argue against the need for safety training, in the long run it pays off to provide instruction on safety in the workplace. Consider these rebuttals to some common objections:

• Safety training is too costly. “I’m a small business, I only have five employees” Hector thought. The owner of a convenience store, Hector argued: “We barely generate a profit as it is. I can’t justify paying for safety training for my employees.” Imagine how much slimmer the profits will be if someone gets injured at work and your insurance premiums go up? While it may cost you a few hundred dollars to provide safety training for your staff, it may cost you thousands, or more, not to.

• There isn’t much potential for injury in this business.” Jennifer ran a small daycare with only two employees and a janitor on the payroll. “We don’t do anything dangerous at work” Jennifer states. “It’s not like working on a construction site. Nobody gets hurt here.”

The truth is, there is no such thing as immunity from workplace injuries. While some professions may come into contact with more hazards in a given workday, there is potential for injury in every workplace. Jennifer never considered the likelihood of back injuries from lifting children or heavy toys, or the many other possibilities for getting hurt on the job. There are safety training courses for every employer that can help you identify and eliminate the potential risks in your workplace.

• We’re too busy to offer safety training. Jackson, the Vice-President of Sales for a large electrical engineering company was enjoying the most profitable year since the company was founded 20 years ago. While employees were provided with some safety training at the time of hiring, no in-depth instruction was ever offered beyond the initial orientation. Over the years there had been a small number of minor injuries, and Jackson knew there was some work to do with regard to the safeness of the many operations of the company. But business was booming, and shutting down production even for a short time didn’t seem like a viable option at that point.

What Jackson doesn’t realize is that there are many ways to offer safety training without shutting down production. Between online safety training courses, webcasts, training videos/DVDs, and printed materials, there were many other options to halting production lines.

Employees can watch a training video during lunch break, or take a course at home via computer. In fact, safety training can occur right on the job through coaching by management. No matter what your needs are as an employer, there’s always a way to incorporate safety training without cutting into profitable work time.

To find out how you can make sure your workplace is in compliance with federal/state safety regulations, and to learn what safety training resources are available to you, contact OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration). OSHA is responsible for protecting every worker in the U.S. from injury and illness at work.

OSHA’s resources cover every topic imaginable, from how to prepare a shelter room in your workplace in case of biological or chemical contaminants, to how to conduct on-the-job practice safety drills, to the safe preparation and storage of food, to truck driver safety training, to the safe operation of equipment on the job, such as lasers, forklifts, tools, etc., and much more. Many of these resources are free and some can even be downloaded from the Internet.

Employers can also access various industry committee reports, OSHA regulations, safety inspection data, and more via OSHA online. By making employees part of the solution, employers will have the assurance that safety and security will be at the top of everyone’s mind at work, and that safety training at work will pay off in the end by keeping costs down and profits up.