New To Your EHS Role? Don’t Let Training Fall Through the Cracks
Safety training software can help ensure your training program is effective.
- By Mary Schulz
- Jun 01, 2022
Whether you’ve joined a new company or have been promoted from within, taking on an EHS management role can be daunting. You’re responsible for assessing processes and determining where to update existing safety protocols or implement new ones. You’ll be called on to collaborate across teams to identify and fix on-site hazards before they can lead to serious incidents. You’re also charged with overseeing compliance with myriad safety standards and for reporting the performance of EHS programs to company leadership.
With so many responsibilities in your new role, inevitably—and normally unintentionally—some tasks will be overshadowed by others. Unfortunately, one of the most often overlooked obligations is training. Ensuring workplace EHS training meets applicable regulations, standards and best practices is a fundamental responsibility for EHS professionals and is also one of the most challenging. Year after year, on OSHA’s list of top ten violations, training failures are among the most-cited provisions of cited standards.
Let’s look at why safety training is so important and ways software can help ensure your training program is effective, compliant and top of mind.
Training and Why It Matters
Training is so critical because it is the most direct way to engage workers with your EHS programs and in your workplace EHS culture. It’s how your employees learn to do their jobs safely, effectively and in accordance with regulatory rules, guidelines and standards. It’s how you make sure that your EHS programs and policies are reflected in the day-to-day work your employees perform. It’s also one of the best ways to gather feedback from your people about what issues they are encountering, what constraints they feel and where gaps exist between intentions and reality.
OSHA and other regulatory agencies also require training. While the General Duty Clause of the 1970 Occupational Safety and Health Act simply states that employers must provide, “Employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm,” training plays an important role in helping employers to meet their obligations. Additionally, many OSHA standards lay out explicit requirements for training and measurements of training efficacy, as summarized in OSHA’s guidance document Training Requirements in OSHA Standards. Similarly, you may find that specialized training is required for certain groups of employees depending on their job functions and applicable regulations. For instance, a forklift driver must be trained in the proper operation and maintenance of a forklift, according to OSHA’s Powered Industrial Trucks Standard.
This article originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.