Vintage Office Safety

Must All Safety Training Be Documented?

Do you really need to document every bit of your safety training?  The short answer is, yes, you do, even if OSHA doesn’t require it.

More than 100 separate OSHA rules feature training requirements. Some of those standards also require you to certify that training has been successfully completed and that employees have learned the skills and information they need to work safely.

For example, OSHA’s process safety management standard (29 CFR 1910.119) requires documentation of training, as does the powered industrial truck standard (29 CFR 1910.178). And DOT’s hazardous materials transportation regulations (49 CFR Parts 171-180) require you to keep records of training conducted in the preceding 3 years.

MSDS Usage: Read It, or WAG It?

MSDSs provide essential safety and health information about the chemicals in your workplace. But they can only do their job and help protect against chemical hazards if employees actually use them. The MSDS should be the main resource employees rely on when they have questions about chemical hazards and precautions. But do they actually consult the MSDS or do they guess?

One effective way to instill the essential safety habit of actively using MSDSs is to hold refresher training on the different hazardous chemicals employees work with. Make the MSDS for each chemical the centerpiece of the training session. During the session, take employees section by section through the MSDS and show them exactly where to find the information they need and how to interpret that into action. This training can be combined with the required annual Right to Know training, or be conducted separately.

Disaster Training or Training Disaster?

Emergency training is not “one size fits all.”

The proper emergency response to a fire might be quite different than to a hurricane, a release of toxic chemicals, or a terrorist attack. Not knowing the difference could make a bad situation a lot worse—and you don’t want to wait until a disaster happens to find out that your emergency training is … well, a disaster. So the first step in an effective training program is to identify what types of emergencies might actually occur and determine the appropriate response for each. This may mean that you need to have more than one type of training for different possible emergencies.

Get Back to Basics with Safety

Take time to remind employees about safety basics.

If most of your safety training sessions focus on the details of specific hazards and work practices, you can easily forget to step back and remind employees about the “big picture.” Fundamentally, that means developing an all-around “safety attitude”—keeping safety in mind at all times and in all situations—not just at work, but also at home and on vacation. In fact, practicing safety at work is only part of the picture: Nearly 90 percent of fatal injuries and two-thirds of nonfatal but disabling injuries to American workers occur away from the job.

Safety at Home Means Safety at Work

Safety shouldn’t stop at quitting time.

There are at least three good, practical reasons your company should encourage employees to practice safety at home as well as at work:

• Paying attention to safety at all times makes safety a habit and builds a good “safety attitude.”
• Preventing accidents at home means fewer lost work days and fewer employees who can’t do their work properly because of off-the-job injuries.
• An off-the-job death or serious injury to an employee or family member is a real tragedy that will affect co-workers and your company as a whole.

Mandatory Training for Employees in accordance with OSHA

When it comes to workplace safety, there are many different things that need to be considered. Depending on the type of job that is being done, as well as the conditions of the work environment, certain types of training are required for employees in accordance with OSHA regulations. Too many people don’t take this training seriously enough, which is causing OSHA to publish what they are calling an ‘Outreach Trainer Watch List’. This will be a list of any trainers who have had their authorization revoked or suspended, allowing employers and employees to get the proper training without having to worry about getting it from an unreliable or unverifiable source.

OSHA Continuing Education- Getting the Training You Need Now

Many jobs require special training and education that carries on throughout the life of the career. However, none are as important as the training requirements of OSHA jobs and any position that relates to OSHA. When it comes to OSHA continuing education requirements, failing to get updated training and education doesn’t just threaten your license, it threatens your business and comes with hefty fines, which are much worse than any that the state licensing board could lay on you for letting your license expire without get CE credits.

5 Reasons to Take Continuing Education and Training Online

When it comes to regulating and maintaining OSHA certification, you cannot afford to fall behind. Getting and staying certified should be your first and foremost priority, which is why you need to take the time to find the best methods for continuing education and initial training so that you can stay on top of things now and throughout your career. Online courses are a great way to get the OSHA certification that you need, and here are 5 reasons why.

How to Prepare for an OSHA Investigation

The OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Act) was signed into law in 1970, and requires all employers and employees to follow a strict set of rules which brings safety and well being to the forefront of the workplace. If a business is being investigated by OSHA, there are definitely some preparations that need to take place. The act allows OSHA to conduct inspections whenever they need to in order to ensure that employers are following rules and complying with various standards that have been set forth. Since there are 111 million workplaces covered by the act and counting, there is no way to inspect them all. Therefore, there is a system in place to determine which facilities need inspected first.