Looking for some manufacturing safety training tips? If so, that makes sense. There's a lot to be said in favor of working in manufacturing, but it does pose a set of hazards to the workers.
However, safety managers and other safety professionals work tirelessly to create safer, healthier workplaces for manufacturing employees (and of course, in a good safety culture, they're working hand-in-hand with the employees themselves), and part of that involves safety training for the manufacturing workforce.
In this article, we're going to walk you through some key aspects of safety and safety training in manufacturing facilities, and give you tips to help create a safer, healthier workplace.
Before we begin, though, know that you can download a free guide to Effective Safety Training by clicking the download button at the end of this article, or just download any of the free guides and/or watch any of the free webinars listed below.
Establishing a safety and health program in your workplace is one of the most effective ways of protecting your most valuable asset: your workers.
And the national standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, ANSI Z10, has this to say:
There is widespread agreement that the use of management systems can improve organizational performance, including performance in the occupational health and safety arena.
As a result, any effort toward manufacturing safety, including manufacturing safety training, is most effective when grounded within a safety and health management system.
Health and Safety Management Systems in Five Steps
Let's break this intro to safety and health management systems down into five steps for you:
Management leadership & employee participation
Planning your safety and health management system
Implementing and operating the system
Monitoring, evaluating, and correcting the system
Management review of the safety and health management system
Step 1: Management Leadership and Employee Participation in a Health and Safety Management System
The health and safety management program won't work without management leadership and employee buy-in. Each are equally important, each must be secured initially and faithfully maintained
Both the hierarchy of controls, which we address in the following section of this article, and safety training, which we address in the section of this article after that, and which is the focus of this article, fit into this step of safety and health management.
Here are some easy ways to get started, drawn from the OSHA document just mentioned:
Step 4: Monitoring, Evaluating, and Correcting a Health and Safety Management System
Once you've got your safety and health management program, you'll need to monitor it, evaluate its performance, and correct deficiencies in a never-ending continuous improvement system.
ONCE A SAFETY and health program is established, it should be evaluated initially to verify that it is being implemented as intended. After that, employers should periodically, and at least annually, step back and assess what is working and what is not, and whether the program is on track to achieve its goals. Whenever these assessments identify opportunities to improve the program, employers, managers, and supervisors—in coordination with workers—should make adjustments and monitor how well the program performs as a result. Sharing the results of monitoring and evaluation within the workplace, and celebrating successes, will help drive further improvement.
After the management review, create a summary of the review that lists the top commitments of upper management and a list of action items, including listing the person responsible for completing the items and target completion dates.
It's a good idea to periodically distribute status updates on the results of those action items.
What to Train Employees about Your Safety and Health Management System
Since this article is about safety training, we thought we'd call out that you should provide your employees with training about your safety and health management system, including (1) that you have one, (2) what its purpose is, and (3) what their role in it is.
For More on Safety and Health Management Systems
We hope that helps get you started on a safety and health management system. But know that we've got these other, more detailed resources about safety and health management for you as well:
Also, keep your eyes on the progress of ISO 45001.
And finally, you may want to learn some more about various "new" schools of safety, which take "systems thinking" into account. Here are some good starting places.
As we learned in our reading above about safety and health management systems, an important aspect of occupational safety and health management is identifying and controlling workplace hazards.
There are several ways to identify hazards at the workplace, and everyone--management, supervisors, safety personnel, and rank and file employees--should play a role.
One of the keys to identifying to hazards at work is to perform a series of job hazard analyses. These are also known as JHAs, and sometimes as job safety analyses or JSA as well. That's what we'll focus on in this article, although all aspects of hazard identification are important.
Before You Perform The Job Hazard Analyses: Four Initial Steps
Here are four tips to keep in mind or to do even before you begin the official JHA process.
Get Employees Involved
Make sure you involve employees, along with supervisors and a safety professional, in the job hazard analysis process. Employees know the job and hazards as well as anyone, and in many cases better.
Review Records of Incidents, Including Near-Misses, Injuries, Illnesses, Fatalities, and Property Damage
Check your incident records to see what type of problems you've already been experiencing--and don't forget those near misses too.
It's possible you've got hazards, perhaps even serious hazards, that haven't yet caused an incident, so don't stop there. But your incident list will give you a good point in the right direction.
Ask Your Employees About the Hazards in Their Work Area
Ask employees if they have known hazards in their work area and create a list now, even before you begin the actual JHA process.
Of course, if your workers point out a serious hazard, put a control in immediately.
Make a List of the Jobs or Tasks For Which You'll Perform Job Hazard Analyses
Make a list of the jobs and/or job tasks at the site and then rank them in the order for which you'll perform JHAs.
If you can do a JHA for every job, great, but in many cases, that's not possible.
In those cases, address the jobs with the most serious and/or probable hazards. To help you understand those concepts, check out our Risk Management and Safety article.
With these preliminary steps down, you're now ready to begin the process of completing your job hazard analyses, described below.
The Steps of Performing a Job Hazard Analysis
Perform the JHA using the following four steps.
Step 1: Break the Job Down into the Steps or Tasks Performing While Completing the Job
Find the best way to perform a job and break it down into a list, listing each step in turn.
Name and number each step, list them in order, plus describe the step, list the hazards associated with the step, and write down some potential hazard controls.
Step 2: Identify and List the Hazards Associated with Each Step
Let's begin by explaining what a hazard is.
What Is a Hazard?
In general terms, a hazard is something with the potential to cause harm.
Notice that we said a hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm. While it's important to remember that potential for harm, it's also worth pointing out:
A hazard is not the same thing as the injury, illness, or incident itself
A hazard may never cause an injury or illness (even though it has the potential to)
We've listed some categories of hazards for you in the table. below.
Type of Hazard
Description
Example
Safety Hazards
Common hazards that cause immediate injuries and illnesses, and may lead to death
Slip, trip, and fall hazards; working from heights; electrical hazards; moving machines; mobile equipment
Biological Hazards
Other life forms that can cause injury or illnesses
Viruses, bacteria, mold, fungi, animal bites/stings, toxic plants, blood and other bodily fluids
Chemical and other Exposure Hazards
Things that can cause harm to you when you are exposed
Radiation, temperature (high or low), noise, chemicals
Ergonomic Hazards
Strains and stresses on the body caused by workplace motions and body positions
Poorly designed work areas, repeated motions, lifting heavy weights
Psychological or Societal Hazards
Hazards caused by interacting with people and social conditions at the workplace
Workplace violence, sexual harassment, stress, depression, alcohol and drug addiction
OK, now that we know what a hazard is, let's move on to discuss identifying hazards before they cause harm. This gives you a chance to remove or reduce the potential for harm.
As we mentioned above, once you've listed each step or task of the job, list the hazards associated with each task.
While doing so, ask:
What could go wrong?
What could cause that thing/those things to go wrong?
What other factors could contribute to that thing/those things going wrong?
What would happen if that thing/those things did go wrong?
How likely is it that that thing/those things will go wrong?
How to Identify Hazards
Here are some ways to identify hazards at work beyond those discussed already:
Perform routine hazard inspections
Maintain health and environmental monitoring programs
Your next job is to think of a way to control each of the hazards you've identified and described.
While doing so, use the hierarchy of controls, which we'll explain in detail in the section below.
Remember, though, that you'll want to prioritize which hazards to address first.
These are the kind of hazards you should address first:
Hazards that are very likely to cause harm
Hazards that would lead to very severe consequences
Hazards that are both very likely to cause harm and would lead to severe consequences (these would be the highest priority of all)
These kind of issues are typically addressed under the topics of risk management and risk assessment. Click to read more about this in our article on risk management and safety.
What to Train Employees about Hazard Identification and the Job Hazard Analysis
It's a good idea to provide training to employees to help develop their ability to spot hazards--and also how to report them when they do. Also, provide training on what a JHA is, what its purpose is, and the employee's role in the JHA process.
The Hierarchy of Controls
Once you've identified hazards and prioritized them for attention, it's time to devise controls to make the job safer. Let's now move on to discuss controlling those hazards.
Controlling Hazards: What Does It Mean to Control a Hazard?
"Controlling a hazard" means considering a workplace hazard and designing a way to:
Remove its ability to cause harm
Reduce its ability to cause harm
So, in everyday language, it's a way to make work safer.
Different Types of Controls
Earlier we listed different types of hazards.
Likewise, there are different types of controls, as described in the table below.
Hazard Control
Description
Example
Elimination
Remove a hazard from the workplace
Changing a production process so that a chemical known to cause cancer is no longer used
Substitution
Replace a hazard with something less hazardous
Changing a formula so that instead of working with a highly explosive fluid, workers work with a fluid that's less explosive
Engineering Control(s)
Design a solution that controls the hazard at its source (requires a physical change at the workplace)
Encasing a noisy machine inside a sound-proof barrier
Safe Work Practice(s)
Develop specific rules and procedures for all workers to follow when working in the presence of or potentially exposed to a hazard
Placing warning labels on hazardous chemicals
Administrative Control(s)
Developing other work practices to protect workers from hazards
Limiting the amount of time workers can work in a noisy area
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Protective clothing or equipment that protects a worker from a hazard
Providing hearing protection to people who work in a noisy area
Let's talk about a few more aspects of these types of controls.
Elimination and Substitution of Hazards:
You'll sometimes see these two lumped together within Engineering Controls.
You'll sometimes see these grouped in as forms of Administrative Controls. However, OSHA specifically says "OSHA uses the term administrative controls to mean other measures aimed at reducing employee exposure to hazards" (other than safe work practices, that is).
Which controls should you use first? Is there a method/order?
Yes, there is a "best" order to use when trying to implement hazard controls.
That's where the term the hierarchy of controls comes into play, as you'll learn below.
What Is the Hierarchy of Controls?
The idea behind the hierarchy of controls is that you should attempt the controls in order from top to bottom. That means trying elimination first, then substitution, then engineering controls, administration controls, work practice controls, and only then PPE.
Notes: We've "collapsed" work practice controls into the administrative controls category here, but don't forget about it. Also, the hierarchy has traditionally been represented visually as shown below, with the small end of the pyramid pointed up, but many people are now "flipping it" so the broad end of the pyramid is at the top, which makes sense.
The Controls Are Ordered Top to Bottom to Match Their Effectiveness, Most to Least
The controls are listed from most effective (at the top) to least effective (at the bottom).
Think of it, at the top, you've got elimination. You can't do much better than eliminate the hazard, right? And at the bottom, you've got PPE, meaning the worker is still working in the presence of the full hazard, and only proper use of the PPE (and its proper operation) stands between the worker and some form of harm.
PPE is at the bottom of the pyramid because it's the least effective and should only be used as a last resort. Don't use PPE as the first option--try all other controls first.
Using More than One Control to Control a Hazard
In many cases, you'll find one type of control won't be enough. In those cases, use multiple types--like an engineering control and PPE, for example.
Use PPE ONLY as a Last Resort
We said it earlier, but it bears repeating. Only turn to PPE as a last resort. And remember to provide proper PPE training to workers who will use it.
For example, if a worker is going to work with a respirator, you'd want to provide a range of respiratory training materials, including something like this online respirator training course.
What to Train Employees about the Hierarchy of Controls
Always provide training to workers about the hierarchy of controls and how to use it. In particular, make sure they know that personal protective equipment, or PPE, is always to be used as the control of last resort.
Manufacturing Safety Training Tips: The Next Step of the Manufacturing Safety Effort
Now that we've discussed the importance of safety and health management, hazard identification and job hazard analyses, and the hierarchy of control, let's now move on to safety and health training. Remember that training is part of the hierarchy--it's an administrative control.
Six Steps for Effective Manufacturing Safety Training
You can roll out effective manufacturing safety training using six steps, as shown in the illustration below.
Looking at the image above, notice:
It's a never-ending cycle. Safety training never ends.
The last phase is continuous improvement. So you don't just keep doing the same thing over and over. You keep doing it to make it better.
So let's look at six steps to follow for effective safety training in more detail.
Step 1: Designing Effective Safety Training
Like anything, safety training is better if you've got a plan for it first. That's what "designing" is all about.
This includes:
Performing a training needs analysis
Identifying the safety or business metrics to measure effectiveness of safety training
Performing a task analysis
Determining the learning objectives
Performing a learner analysis
Selecting delivery method(s)
Additional considerations
Let's learn a little more about each.
Training Needs Analysis
During a training needs analysis, you determine what is the problem the training is supposed to fix and if safety training is really the best solution.
Sometimes, you'll find safety training isn't the way to go. Maybe a better control, like elimination or an engineering control, would be better. In that case, don't train.
But in some cases, you'll determine that safety training is called for. If so, proceed.
Identify Your Metrics for Safety Training Success
What is the goal of your safety training? Are you trying to reduce a specific injury, for example? What will you measure after the training to confirm that it worked and maybe even show the bosses?
Identify the metric(s) now and begin measure for before/after comparisons.
Task Analysis
This is very similar to what was described in the JHA.
If you're teaching workers a process, begin by breaking down the process into smaller steps and determining the proper sequence.
The next step of designing safety training is to determine your learning objective (or objectives). Learning objectives are basically the be-all and end-all of training.
What do you want the workers to be able to do when the safety training is over? That's what a learning objective is.
Once you've got these, you'll create training to match, you'll create tests/assessments to match, and you'll later observe workers in the field to see if they're doing it.
Subject matter experts (SMEs), including engineers and similar staff in your organization, consultants, and other experts
Manufacturers, including information on safety data sheets and equipment manuals
Employees, who often know their work areas, job tasks and associated safety and health hazards and controls better than anyone else
Match Safety Training Content to Learning Objectives
We mentioned this earlier, but make sure your training material provides all the information necessary for employees to learn to satisfy the learning objectives.
On the flip-side, remove any materials that don't contribute to that.
Although it's an amazing organ, it's also true that the human brain acts as a limit to the amount of information we can process and store at any one time.
Give people too much new information at once, and they'll forget it all. Very quickly.
So, strip your training down to the bare essentials. Just the basics.
Get "Chunky"
Break your training down into smaller parts. This will improve how well employees can remember it.
You may also have to consider issues related to a multi-language workforce.
You can do this in a variety of ways. One way is to have interpreters deliver the training into a different language. Another way to address this is to provide the same training in multiple languages. For example, the multi-language online safety and health course shown below allows the employee to select the language they understand best.
Use Visuals In Your Safety Training
People learn more if training materials appeal to their ability to process both language and images at the same time.
Awaken Prior Knowledge Related to the Safety Topic At Beginning of Training
People learn new information better when they can integrate it with similar, or related, information that already exists in their memory.
As a result, add something to the beginning of your training that makes the employees recall what they may already know about the topic you're about to cover.
Use Metaphors, Similes, Analogies, and Other Forms of Comparison and Contrast
This is related to the point we just made about awakening prior knowledge.
When introducing new information to people, try to use metaphors, similes, analogies, and other forms of comparison and contrast to things they already know.
Have Employees Practice/Make Decisions and See Consequences
All effective training should include feedback to help the learner judge if they understand the relevant knowledge or have mastered the relevant skill.
For knowledge-based or awareness training, that can be verbal.
For skill-based training, you'll want the worker to perform the skill and see the results of their performance. Did it work? Did it fail?
People forget one-and-one training. If you're doing safety training once a year, you can do better.
Consider instead continually introducing safety training over weeks and months, reinforcing the previous training. And that brings us to the importance of refresher training and something called spaced practice (which basically means giving employees repeated chances over time to practice new skills).
Those refresher training sessions don't have to be super-long. A quick eLearning course may be quite effective as a refresher. You may also want to look into microlearning for refresher training.
Have Employees Think About Their Own Learning
Effective learners analyze how well they're learning a new topic. Ineffective learners don't have this skill.
To help people learn from your safety training, build in prompts that ask them to judge how well they understand what the training is trying to convey.
This process of thinking about what you're learning and how well you're learning is part of what is known as metacognition. Read more about it at the link you just passed.
Additional Considerations
We've covered a lot of tips for developing effective safety training, but here are a few other things to keep in mind, too:
Training materials for employees
Training materials for instructors
Trainer qualifications
Training location
Training schedule
Training completion requirements
Training evaluation strategy
Strategy for continuous improvement of safety training
Resources for Further Research on Developing Effective Safety Training
You could do much worse than read the amazing, classic book by Julie Dirksen titled Design for How People Learn.
Let's consider some aspects of delivering the training now.
General Considerations for Delivering Safety Training
Safety training, like all training, has to be designed to match the learning needs of the learners. That's what people mean when they talk about learner-centric training.
If you aren't creating learner-centric training, your training is failing. No ifs, ands, or buts.
But what is learner-centric training, more specifically? A lot of things, but you can start with that list of adult learning principles we introduced earlier.
You shouldn't deliver all your safety training in the same delivery method--for example, all instructor-led training, or all field-based training, or all online training.
Instead, you should mix and match these safety training delivery methods to create a blended learning solution.
But remember, simply being a clown up there won't make your training effective either. Everyone can laugh and giggle and have a great time through your training, but that doesn't mean they've learned.
Online and Virtual Safety Training Delivery
Online training is best when it's relevant, engaging, and interactive.
Another thing to look for in online safety training courses is the effective use of visuals, as demonstrated in the short video below.
Avoid passive, boring online safety training.
Mobile Safety Training
The times have changed. Actually, they changed quite some time ago.
Your safety training should include some form of mobile training.
Mobile makes it easier for workers to train on their own schedule, and easier to pull up information where it's needed-in the field.
Step 4: Evaluating Safety Training to Determine if It Was Effective
So you've delivered the safety training. Kudos!
But was it any good? Did it work?
The standard way to determine that is the Kirkpatrick Training Evaluation model. The Kirkpatrick model includes four levels, which we'll describe below.
Level 1: Employee Reactions to Safety Training ("Smile Sheets")
Those evaluation sheets you hand out at the end of training to get the workers' opinions are sometimes known as "smile sheets." This is level one of the Kirkpatrick model.
These have some value, but they're often written poorly. Here are some tips for writing better ones:
Include open-ended questions that allow workers to share their opinions in words instead of just selecting a survey option (you'll often get the most useful information this way)
Avoid questions about whether or not the employees "liked" the training or the trainer (studies show there's almost no connection between "liking" the training or trainer and the amount of true learning that occurred)
Write questions that ask how well the training prepared the worker to safely perform the job in he field
Avoid answer options that are similar numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and/or are based on agreement (strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, neither agree nor disagree, somewhat agree, strongly agree)
Include answer options that include specific phrasing about whether or not the training prepared the worker to safely perform a job task
Write questions and answer options that, when reviewed by a trainer after the data is collected, will provide solid, concrete information about whether or not the training was effective and, if it wasn't effective, how it can be improved
Level 3: Observations of On-the-Job Safe Work Practices
You can't stop at tests, though. People often do well on tests 10 minutes after a training and forget almost everything by the next day.
So after the training is over, you're want to watch the workers in the field and and see if the training is "sticking."
By that, we mean observe if the employees are working safely as they learned in the safety training.
If they are, great. Give them some recognition, thank them, and tell them to keep on practice the safe work habits.
If they're not, that's not great. But doesn't immediately assume the problem is with the workers or even the training. Ask questions and investigate--there may be other things going on.
Of course, if it IS clear there's a training problem, you'll want to remedy that. That may be as simple as a simple verbal reminder or some refresher training. Or maybe you'll have to go back and modify the original training.
Level 4: Effect on Key Workplace Safety Metrics (and Other Business KPIs)
Earlier, you identified the key metrics that would help you determine if your training was effective or not. And you made a "before" measurement.
After the training is over, go back and check those same metrics again. Here's where you'll find if the training was effective.
Resources for Further Research on Evaluating Effective Safety Training
Click to read an alternative to this standard Kirkpatrick training evaluation model (Dr. Will Thalhiemer's new L-TEM Model of Training Evaluation)
Step 5: Keeping Records and Documentation of Safety Training
Keep records of your safety training.
This includes records of the process of creating the training and delivering the training. Or the employees who took the training and how they did on their assessments. And of your own evaluations of the training, plus any revision and/or continuous improvement efforts.
Resources for Further Research on Recordkeeping and Documentation for Effective Safety Training
Keep looking at those evaluations, at changes in the workplace, and other factors, and continue to revise and improve the safety training over time.
Summary: Manufacturing Safety Training Done Right
Well, we hope you enjoyed reading this article on manufacturing safety training tips even half as much as we enjoyed writing it! If so, then we're happy about that as well.
For even more on manufacturing safety, try any of these articles:
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