The world continues to be upended as we work together dealing with the waves of change from the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting how we work, how we plan, and how we fundamentally operate day in and day out. More than ever, safety has become a major point of focus for organizations as they find new ways to serve both their employees and their customers.
And beyond providing protective gear, hand sanitizer, and safety signage, one of the most valuable resources employers can provide to their employees is safety education. Enhancing communication, risk reduction and hazard identification, and incident investigation and response, safety training provides critical culture change for maintaining a safe workplace.
By enrolling employees in professional safety workshops, such as the Optimum Center for Safety Leadership®, employers can establish a culture of safety while providing employees a safe environment in which to learn.
Studying Safety in the Safest Environment
Understandably, one of the greatest concerns right now is people grouping too closely together. This heightened attention on groups and maintaining distance has given certain innocuous words, like “classroom” and “workshops”, a negative connotation. However, the reality is that safety education can still be conducted in a close-knit, classroom setting, providing valuable safety information, without assembling individuals together in a physical classroom.
The virtual teaching capabilities available through the Optimum Center for Safety Leadership® mean safety training is available anywhere with an internet connection — which means almost everywhere. This allows employees to continue to safely social distance while learning valuable safety information and participating in constructive group activities and discussions. Not only does this save on time and costs for travel, but it also provides employees the opportunity to learn in an environment where they feel the most safe.
Safety Training is More Critical Now Than Ever Before
If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s the fact that safety is truly everyone’s responsibility. Above and beyond coronavirus preparedness, on-the-job workplace safety is critical to ensure that work can be performed without unduly placing employees within harm’s way, allowing organizations to continue operating at full capacity, and to keep processes running smoothly without incident. But to make safe work a priority, safety training for employees is a necessity.
Enrolling employees in professional safety education workshops provides both the framework for establishing a culture of safety in an organization — through the knowledge and techniques taught by safety instructors — as well as the skills and resources for employees to assume roles as safety leaders, looking for ways to continually improve on safety and efficiency within workflows and processes.
Employees are able to contextualize their role in the safety hierarchy within an organization, directly showing how their participation in an organization’s culture of safety helps protect themselves and their coworkers. This leads to a greater adoption and adherence to safety procedures and a greater willingness to participate in finding new ways to help improve on safety guidelines. For employers, that means fewer injuries, fewer incidents, and fewer setbacks, as well as an overall better working environment. And while the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to necessitate change for businesses and employers, there is no reason to allow it to impede upon safety success.
Optimum Safety Management provides the information and services to help companies develop safety leaders and improve overall safety performance. For more information on how Optimum Safety Management can assist with your businesses’ safety needs, contact an expert today, or reach out via phone at 630-759-9908.
