Safety training and certification are important for preventing workplace injuries and deaths, as well as remaining compliant with laws and regulations. The problem is safety training and certification only matter if they’re sufficiently memorable.
So what steps can you take to make sure your safety training sticks?
Follow a Formal Program
First, make sure there’s a formal program in place to train your employees on safety. Having a formal program means you’ll be able to implement safety training consistently, across all your employees and new hires. It also gives you a structural basis that you can improve upon; if you notice some inefficiency or something missing in your safety training modules, you can analyze and improve them.
Within your formal safety training program, you can conduct internal training or rely on external third-party services. For example, with online forklift certification, you can educate and train your employees on the safe operation of forklifts, according to OSHA guidelines. You can supplement this with internal training on your organization’s policies.
Whatever you do, don’t rely on ad-libbed training or simple shadowing. It’s important to have formal, official documentation in place to ensure appropriate education.
Introduce Microlearning
Microlearning is an educational technique designed to provide information in smaller, more digestible “chunks.” As a simple example, instead of training an employee on how to change a bicycle tire, you could first give a lesson on bicycle anatomy, then give a lesson on how to remove a tire, then give a lesson on how to replace a tube, and so on.
Microlearning has become more popular because people are beginning to recognize the benefits.
· Minimal attention requirements. Human attention spans were never great, and they seemed to be getting shorter. Even the best, most attentive employees will start to space out occasionally if you try to train them for hours at a time. Microlearning gives people bite-sized pieces of information that they can easily handle; this maximizes the amount of information they can retain.
· Instant application and immersion. This strategy is also valuable for instant application and immersion. With typical education and training methods, an employee might spend a few hours learning something, then wait days or weeks before they can put their new knowledge to the test. But with microlearning, they can begin applying their new knowledge almost instantly in most cases.
· Feedback and dialogue possibilities. This structure also allows for a healthier dialogue, and more feedback. If employees don’t understand a small lesson, they can voice their confusion and hopefully resolve it.
Hire and Support Better Trainers
Safety training sticks much better when people like and respect the people training them. Accordingly, it’s important to hire and support better trainers within your organization. Choose the best communicators, the most respectful listeners, and the most experienced and knowledgeable candidates to be your trainers – and make sure to reward them for doing a good job.
Acknowledge Different Learning Styles
Next, make sure your safety training policies acknowledge the existence of different learning styles. Not everyone learns the same way; some of us prefer visual learning, while others prefer lectures, and still others prefer to get as hands-on as possible. Try to cater to the learning style of whomever you happen to be training at the time.
Use Mnemonic Devices
Mnemonic devices are incredibly powerful for making things easier to remember. If you’ve ever repeated a phrase like “lefty loosey, righty tighty,” or “my very educated mother just served us noodles” (or “nine pies,” depending on when you grew up), you know this.
Try incorporating more mnemonic devices and catchphrases into your training if you want your lessons to stick around. For example, in aviation, pilots often use the mnemonic GUMPS as part of their pre-landing checklist; GUMPS stands for “gas, undercarriage, mixture, propeller, and seat belts and switches.”
Employ Reminders
It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how good your memory is, or how seriously you take your training. Unless you have a literal eidetic memory, you’re going to forget what you’ve learned if you don’t use it regularly. That’s why it’s a good idea to employ reminders to keep employees fresh. Posters, check-ins, and follow-ups can all reinforce existing knowledge.
Offer Rewards and Bonuses
If you struggle to motivate employees to pursue safety training or take their lessons seriously, consider offering rewards and bonuses. Some people become much more motivated when there’s something attractive waiting for them on the other side.
Safety training is one of the most important elements of your business, as it keeps your employees safe and saves your business money in the long term. As long as you make a concentrated effort to improve attention and retention, your safety training will be maximally impactful.