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Developing a Safety Training Program

What is a program?

A "program" contains a written plan, policies, processes, procedures, rules, forms, reports, and possibly other documents. A safety training program is just one of many interactive programs integrated into a safety management system. In order to meet the continuing need for highly trained safety and health staff, it's important to develop a safety training program that includes a written plan for training new-hire and current employees whenever they are introduced to new hazards.

What is the purpose of a safety training program?

The purpose of a training plan is to provide training professionals with clearly written policy and guidelines for implementing an effective safety education and training program for employees.

The plan should contain elements that are informative and directive.
It should inform everyone about the safety training mission, policies, procedures
It should also clearly state who is responsible for carrying out the mission, policies and procedures

ANSI Z490.1-2001 Elements of a Safety Training Program

According to ANSI 490.1-2001, at a minimum a training program should include:

A development piece, including needs assessment, learning objectives, course content and format, resource materials, and criteria for course completion
Delivery by competent trainers in a suitable training environment
Evaluation in a continuous improvement system
Documentation and recordkeeping
A plan describing how the various training elements will be accomplished

OSHA's Suggested Training Plan Core Elements

The following information was adapted from 29 CFR 1910.120 App E, Training Curriculum Guidelines - (Non-mandatory). Although written specifically for training hazardous waste operations, the core criteria may serve as an excellent template for the design of your safety training program. There are 10 core criteria:

1. Training facility. The training facility should have available sufficient resources, equipment, and site locations to perform didactic and hands-on training when appropriate. Training facilities should have sufficient organization, support staff, and services to conduct training in each of the courses offered.

2. Training Director. Each training program should be under the direction of a training director who is responsible for the program. The Training Director should have a minimum of two years of employee education experience.

3. Instructors. Instructors should be deemed competent on the basis of previous documented experience in their area of instruction, successful completion of a "train-the-trainer" program specific to the topics they will teach, and an evaluation of instructional competence by the Training Director. Instructors should be required to maintain professional competency by participating in continuing education or professional development programs or by completing successfully an annual refresher course and having an annual review by the Training Director. The annual review by the Training Director should include observation of an instructor's delivery, a review of those observations with the trainer, and an analysis of any instructor or class evaluations completed by the students during the previous year.

4. Course materials. The Training Director should approve all course materials to be used by the training provider. Course materials should be reviewed and updated at least annually. Materials and equipment should be in good working order and maintained properly. All written and audio-visual materials in training curricula should be peer reviewed by technically competent outside reviewers or by a standing advisory committee. Reviews should possess expertise in the following disciplines were applicable: occupational health, industrial hygiene and safety, chemical/environmental engineering, employee education, or emergency response. One or more of the peer reviewers should be a employee experienced in the work activities to which the training is directed.

5. Students. The program for accepting students should include:

Assurance that the student is or will be involved in work where chemical exposures are likely and that the student possesses the skills
necessary to perform the work.
A policy on the necessary medical clearance.

6. Ratios. Student-instructor ratios should not exceed 30 students per instructor. Hands-on activity requiring the use of personal protective equipment should have instructor ratios of 5-10 students per instructor.

7. Proficiency assessment. Proficiency should be evaluated and documented by the use of a written assessment and a skill demonstration selected and developed by the Training Director and training staff. The assessment and demonstration should evaluate the knowledge and individual skills developed in the course of training. The level of minimum achievement necessary for proficiency shall be specified in writing by the Training Director. If a written test is used, there should be a minimum of 50 questions. If a written test is used in combination with a skills demonstration, a minimum of 25 questions should be used. If a skills demonstration is used, the tasks chosen and the means to rate successful completion should be fully documented by the Training Director. The content of the written test or of the skill demonstration shall be relevant to the objectives of the course. The written test and skill demonstration should be updated as necessary to reflect changes in the curriculum and any update should be approved by the Training Director. The proficiency assessment methods, regardless of the approach or combination of approaches used, should be justified, documented and approved by the Training Director. The proficiency of those taking the additional courses for supervisors should be evaluated and documented by using proficiency assessment methods acceptable to the Training Director. These proficiency assessment methods must reflect the additional responsibilities borne by supervisory personnel in hazardous waste operations or emergency response.

8. Course certificate. Written documentation should be provided to each student who satisfactorily completes the training course.

The documentation should include:

a. Student's name.
b. Course title.
c. Course date.
d. Statement that the student has successfully completed the course.
e. Name and address of the training provider.
f. An individual identification number for the certificate.
g. List personal protective equipment used by the student.

This documentation may include a certificate and an appropriate wallet-sized laminated card with a photograph of the student and the above information. When such course certificate cards are used, the individual identification number for the training certificate should be shown on the card.

9. Recordkeeping. Training providers should maintain records listing the dates courses were presented, the names of the individual course attendees, the names of those students successfully completing each course, and the number of training certificates issued to each successful student. These records should be maintained for a minimum of five years after the date an individual participated in a training program offered by the training provider. These records should be available and provided upon the student's request or as mandated by law.

10. Program quality control. The Training Director should conduct or direct an annual written audit of the training program. Program modifications to address deficiencies, if any, should be documented, approved, and implemented by the training provider. The audit and the program modification documents should be maintained at the training facility.

Management involvement in training

First-line supervisors play a crucial role in safety and health protection because of their immediate responsibility for workers and for the work being performed. Effective training of supervisors will address their safety and health management responsibilities as well as information on hazards, hazard prevention, and response to emergencies. Although they may have other safety and health responsibilities, those listed in these guidelines merit particular attention.

Ensure managers understand their safety and health responsibilities so that they will effectively carry out those responsibilities. Because there is a tendency in some organizations to consider safety and health a staff function and to neglect the training of managers in safety and health responsibilities, the importance of managerial training is noted separately. Managers who understand both the way and the extent to which effective safety and health protection impacts the overall effectiveness of the organization itself are far more likely to ensure that the necessary safety and health management systems operates as needed.

Source: Steven Geigle, M.A., CSHM