It's up to business owners, CEOs, Human Resource Managers, Safety Officers and more to ensure their employees are safe. All businesses need to provide their employees
with some degree of continuous safety training and compliance courses. This is why partnering with experts, having the right training content and managing everything
within easy to use software is absolutely critical. This is where Atlantic Training comes in. It's simply just too difficult to take on all of this responsibility without a team solely
focused on providing you with the necessary tools to keep your employees safe. Our courses will help you build a culture that prioritizes safety first, stay compliant with
required training, develop impactful safety programs and much more.
For those of you who have experience in construction, safety training and awareness is no joke. Daily reminders, huddles and even morning exercises are part of the culture in construction and other related industries. We believe that companies outside of the construction industry could benefit from a similar approach in order to build a strong safety culture.
Businesses that operate in office, warehouse, or manufacturing environments might have different topics to cover when it comes to safety, yet the consistency of providing weekly or monthly training can contribute to the development of a safety first culture. Remember, even if you're not stepping onto a job site every day it doesn't mean there aren't serious risks at your workplace.
Internal marketing is also a key component of building safety into a company's culture. Human Resource Managers and those responsible for safety are increasingly working with marketing teams to promote the most effective practices to keep employees safe. Creating office visuals such as posters and banners can aid as helpful reminders. Developing incentive programs with prizes for those completing courses within a certain time frame is also a great way to increase employee education while improving culture.
Depending on your business type, industry, product line, geographical
location, work environment and more, your company is most likely required
to complete OSHA requirements. We're sure you are already
thinking "how am I supposed to know which courses my employees require?"
Don't worry, we have a team of professionals that stay current with all
required safety training. You can view all of our available OSHA requirements
by clicking the link below, but we highly encourage you to contact
our team to discuss the specific needs of your company.
OSHA has an excellent article on best practices to get your safety program up and running. While this isn't a comprehensive guide with everything your specific company will need, it can help get things moving in the right direction.
Similar to our advice of building safety into your company culture, OSHA suggests that safety should be a core value and that it's a primary responsibility to ensure workers make it through the day safely. We at Atlantic Training couldn't agree more with this simple, but critical, part in the process. Just making the decision to commit to safety is a massive first step.
Developing a reporting system is very important. This system should allow workers to report on near-misses, accidents, incidents, hazardous conditions, safety concerns and more. Atlantic Training's EHS software, WAVE, is a great option to record and track everything in one central location.
Also in correlation with our example of how construction workers build safety training into their daily agenda, It's a good idea to lead by example and make safety a continued conversation every day.
This might entail providing teams with live in-person or virtual safety training. Another option is to partner with a content development company that provides online courses that employees can take at a time that's convenient. We can't stress enough that you'll want to partner with a reputable source that stays current with regulations, compliance and best practices. Some companies take on the responsibility of developing courses on their own. If the resources and budget are available, then you can make it work, but at the end of the day you might find that it's easier and more affordable to work with a team like Atlantic Training.
Scheduling and conducting inspections is another element that you'll want to consider as part of your safety program. Interviewing workers, reviewing machinery and assessing office safety could all be part of this step. Once information is collected, all feedback and elements that might need to be addressed should be recorded in your Environmental, Health and Safety software.
Outlining scenarios that address potential emergencies is a crucial part of your safety program. For example, an emergency response plan for when a fire occurs is a very common aspect of a safety plan. Can you and your team identify similar situations that would require an emergency response plan? If so, they all need to be defined, documented and supported with a procedure on what to do when an emergency occurs. Detailed instructions need to be provided to employees that address every scenario.
Finally, always pursue ways to improve your safety program. Feedback you receive from workers is paramount, but make sure it's collected and maintained in a very organized manner. EHS software will ensure that you have a system to easily monitor and review feedback. Also make sure that you set concrete days to review your plan throughout the year. It needs to become a habit, and consistent repetition will keep your program top-of-mind.