Safety training is most effective when it changes attitudes

Back in the ‘70s, I moved from engineering to head the Education and Training department in a large automotive engine plant. As an engineer with no formal education in this field, I was unfamiliar with the proper way to assess skill level if we had an employee performance issue. I will never forget the simple test suggested by an experienced colleague.

He offered, “Put an imaginary gun to the employee’s head and tell them to do the job. If they can do it, you’re dealing with an attitude issue – not a skills issue.” Granted, that is a crude metric but it serves as a valid test when we encounter employees taking shortcuts in safety.

Ask employees, “Do you know how to do this job?” and you will most often receive an affirmative answer. Then ask if he/she knows how to do the job safely. My experience suggests that you will again hear a “yes.” If you believe those responses as I do (why would the employee lie?), why do we insist on using skills training to deal with an attitude issue?

We in health and safety use the tools most available in our toolkit – more skills training. Analysis of incident/near miss reports, bolstered by personal experience, suggests that employee training or retraining is often referred to as appropriate corrective action. (I will not digress about the problems with incident investigation and the lack of root cause analysis because it will detract from the point I wish to make in this blog.) Think about how you approach lockout issues, incidents with fork trucks, fall hazards, etc. Usually we put employees back through our available skills training, hoping that it will somehow change their views on working and acting safely. Is it any wonder that employees complain about safety training being boring?

If we want sustainable growth in our companies and wish to prove that “people are our most valuable asset,” it is crucial that we try to get to the hearts as well as the minds so that employees use the skills and knowledge they already possess.

Listed below are my criteria for effective safety training that contributes to sustainability:

• Face to face with a simple, easy to understand message and provided by a knowledgeable and credible facilitator/trainer
• Promotes the view that safety is a value on and off the job and that safety is a value within the organizational culture, facilitating a sustainable future
• Respectful of individuals and different views
• Open dialogue about real world issues with individual and team interaction
• Promotes the concept that safety should be “want to” because of family and concern for others, not “have to” because of OSHA and company rules

It is time that we start dealing with the real world and talk with employees as adults and the real reasons why we all take shortcuts.