When you have safety training sessions, it's important to make sure that your employees take them seriously. Too often, employees see it as something they just have to get through, and they don't take in the information. There are several reasons why making sure employees have the right attitude helps your business.
The Training Actually Keeps Them Safe
You probably care about your workers and don't want them to get hurt. Or you know finding and training a new worker to replace someone that can't work costs time and money. People also have a natural desire to stay safe, but that doesn't mean that they automatically know how or understand why doing something a certain way is important.
Think about the safety briefings flight attendants give on airplanes. You would think everyone knows how to operate a seat-belt, but the reason that's included in the speech is because of past accidents where passengers couldn't release their seat-belt in time to get out of a burning plane.
The Training Protects Your Efficiency
When someone gets hurt, it's not just them that stops working. Other people in the area will stop to come to their aid. Multiple people will need to spend company time collecting or giving witness statements and filling out paperwork. If there is no one else to do that job of the injured worker, you may need to pause work until you can find a substitute.
The Training Avoids Mixed Messages
In many organizations, there can be a gap between the way things are taught and the way things are actually done. When you pressure employees to meet strict deadlines, they may see that as an instruction to prioritize going fast — rather than following the safety procedures to the letter. A manager who wants to rush the job along may even directly tell people to skip safety steps — even though that's not what you really want to see happening. Placing a greater emphasis on your safety training makes it clear that safety is the top priority.
The Training Reduces Workers Compensation Insurance Rates
Your workers compensation insurance rates are a mix of the risk inherent to each employee's job and your business's claims history. Worker accidents directly cost the company money. That, in turn, affects what you can offer to your employees. When you have your training sessions, remind your workers that staying safe is in everyone's best interests. And explain how that is the case.