by Chris Kilbourne
During their first few weeks and months on the job, new workers are likely to develop patterns of safety behavior that often last throughout their employment. That’s why you need to make good use of this valuable safety orientation period.
To get the best results from your safety orientation program:
1. Make expectations clear so that employees realize right from the first day that safety is a number one job priority, that safety performance will be evaluated along with other aspects of job performance, and that those evaluations will affect raises, promotions, and so on.
2. Administer a pretest to find out what new employees know—and especially what they don’t know—about key safety hazards and practices in your organization. Then at the end of the initial orientation period, give a posttest to find out what the new employee has learned and what you need to go over again.
3. Use hands-on demonstrations to make sure that your new employees understand the correct procedures completely and can perform them flawlessly.
4. Provide a written safety checklist that covers safety rules, procedures, and precautions. Encourage them to post the checklist at the workstations and to refer to it as they work.
5. Buddy new workers up with a seasoned employee who has a good safety record. Buddy them up for at least a couple of weeks, or until you’re convinced that it’s safe for the new worker to go solo. A buddy can help the new person understand the importance of following the rules taught during orientation. A buddy is there to catch mistakes and correct unsafe behavior.
6. Follow up on initial safety orientation by monitoring performance closely and asking and answering a lot of questions during those first few weeks and months to make sure you’ve gotten the safety message across.
Safety Training from Day 1
If you need safety orientation training for new employees as well as ongoing safety and health training materials for all employees, you’ve come to the right place.
Vancouver, Lower Mainland area businesses and residents contact Lee Down @ 604-461-5444 to discuss your safety training requirements.
Article Source: US BLR Safety Daily Advisor
One thing I also try to include in my new-hire orientations is a statement from the executive management staff that talks about their commitment to safety and why it is important for the entire organization. To make this even more effective, I also try to get a 2-3 minute video clip from the executive team that states the company outlook on safety, why it is important to the employees, the company, and the bottom line. Having new-hires see that upper-management is committed to the program can aid in removing any barriers and helps set the tone for the safety culture withing the organization. My take on it is “if upper management can take a few minutes out of their busy day to make this statement, then it must be important”
Posted by safetydude1234 | April 10, 2012, 3:17 am