A Safety Training Calendar for Fun and Focus

There are many ways to train your staff regarding safety issues that affect them and the environment in which they work.  As we all know, training is mandatory but that doesn’t mean it can’t be FUN!  Here is one way your organization can develop a training calendar to keep training fun and focused.  

Depending on your industry, you may find some cool topics per month on the National Safety Calendar.  Typically, if you find a topic you like, typically the agency that is linked to that topic provides pamphlets and other information for free (so you don’t have to recreate the wheel) that you can order and pass out to your employees.  

For example:  The Prevent Blindness Organization listed March as Workplace Eye Wellness Month.  From March 1 – 31 they provide employers with free information regarding eye strain and eye safety.  Why not couple that with your Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) program update?  This can be the month that you hand out safety glasses, steel toed boots, gloves, and other required PPE.  You can also update this policy and make sure it includes the tips provided in the blog post, Six Tips for Creating Cohesive Policies: The Key to a Solid Safety Program, on my Trapane Group.  

May is National Electrical Safety Month, according to the Electrical Foundation for Safety, International (EFSI).  They provide free information on home and work electrical safety that you can use for your employees.  Why not take this month to create a scavenger hunt for all employees that will ultimately train them to identify broken or loose outlets, frayed cords on tools and machinery, or tools and machinery in use that are not UL approved? Have them take photos, complete work orders to get the items fixed and even create a friendly department competition for which one finds the most discrepancies.   Training made FUN!  It is also a great time to make sure your maintenance employees are trained on specific OSHA regulations, look at machine guarding and update your Electrical Safety and Control of Hazardous Energy (Lock Out/Tag Out) policies.  

After the training calendar is developed, activities can be planned for and marketed to your personnel.  If you keep the same calendar year after year, your employees will know what they have to look forward to and can even help to improve upon the fun part!  OSHA requires each organization to develop a Safety Incentive Program that rewards employees for working safely and identifying previously unknown hazards.  This is a great way to implement this program into the Safety Calendar.  

Good luck and remember you don’t have to have all the answers. You just have to know who to call to get them!