What You Need to Know About OSHA Safety Trainings

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 11/26/2019 - 06:11
Man in suit holding OSHA booklet for training

OSHA safety guidelines are meant to help your team be safe, stay on the job, and protect one another and everyone around a job site. Compliance is essential for your business and employees. Luckily, keeping up with OSHA safety and training is easy when you work with a reliable training partner like Northwest Safety and Risk Services.

WHAT ARE OSHA TRAINING STANDARDS?

OSHA's training standard across industries requires that each employee be trained on the tasks, tools, and situations they may need on the job, and a qualified person must provide this.

OSHA training standards help companies across industries—like construction—stay on the same page with compliance, requirements, and safety needs. OSHA safety guidelines and accessible training help employees build trust, safe work practices, and a strong business.

A few training tips for employers include:

  • Use different kinds of training, like peer-to-peer and professional, to integrate processes

  • Always prioritize expert training and skills

  • Show that safety is a priority by making training easy to access

  • Develop a reliable safety program that meets the needs of your audience and teams

SET YOUR SAFETY TRAINING PRACTICES

Your safety training practices are important, and employees need to be sure that they can count on you to offer opportunities for training, professional training and that skills and knowledge learned in training are integrated across the company.

You want to be constantly reevaluating your training program to make sure it meets your employee needs. You'll also want to design the program for participation, so it's not a passive class that can easily be forgotten.

AN INTRO TO OSHA REGULATIONS

The Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSHA, is essentially a set of regulations created to help keep employees (and, by extension, employers) safe under a variety of potentially hazardous circumstances. However, there's another way to view OSHA: as a road-map toward simple workplace safety. By using the rules to guide your choices, solutions, and trainings, you can utilize OSHA regulations to your benefit.

For example, here are a few regulations you can build safety training around:

  • Emergency plans. Employees need to know what to do during different kinds of emergencies; evacuation paths need to be identified so they can be kept clear and safe.

  • Protective gear. Employees should be trained on how and when to use protective gear, depending on the requirements for your industry and workplace.

  • Hazardous materials. OSHA requirements state that you must identify all hazardous materials in your workplace before employees handle them.

BENEFITS OF SAFETY TRAINING

Here are a few things you and your employees can get from an OSHA safety training!

IMPROVE COMPLIANCE

OSHA compliance is an integral part of any workplace. Make sure you're checking all the boxes by getting started with a safety training routine.

BOOST EMPLOYEE MORALE

Employees like to be safe on the job, but they also want to know that you care about their safety. OSHA training proves to your employees that you're dedicated to taking care of them.

LIMIT RISKS

Workplaces in every industry come with some element of risk. To minimize that risk and dodge the possibility of injury, health issues, or other expensive problems, OSHA safety trainings help you identify and eliminate safety threats.

OSHA COMPLIANCE: A SMART BUSINESS MOVE

For your Boise company, OSHA compliance is a smart business move. OSHA's employee health and safety programs can help you prevent serious workplace injury and death. Non-compliance in a regulated industry can result in hefty fines, but that's never the only reason for making occupational safety a priority.

Here's a look at the benefits of investing in an OSHA approved health and safety strategy for your Boise business.

  • Lower risk for your company — OSHA fines are no laughing matter, and getting hit with a penalty that could reach into the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars could put your company out of business for good. And if it's proven that an injury or death could have been prevented by complying with established OSHA guidelines, your business may also face civil lawsuits and even criminal charges due to negligence.

  • Improved workplace productivity — No matter how they occur, on-the-job injuries never work in your favor. From the lost time at work to lower employee morale, there's little to be gained by risking workplace injuries. By doing everything you can to make your Boise work environment safer, you'll reap the benefits of a productive workforce who shows up to the job every day.

  • Lower costs — Fewer injuries mean fewer lost hours and reduced costs for workman's compensation, and your liability insurance rates may stay lower as well.

MAKE SURE YOU'RE IN COMPLIANCE WITH OSHA

If you're looking for training support and advice on OSHA safety guidelines, we're here for you and offer construction safety consultations and training. Get in touch today!

208.465.0215