Why Do Safety Training Programs Fail?

In the world of safety, no matter the topic, the goal of training is often to teach workers how to be more efficient, do their jobs better, and ultimately, work safely. So, why does this sometimes fail?

It often comes down to one of these three things:

Executive Support

When you ask your workers to attend a training session, how often do they simply receive a notice of the training with a requirement to attend? If you want your training to start off on the right foot make sure that your leadership communicates the purpose of the training with a compelling reason to have it and the value it is to the individual and the company. 

Workers will adjust their attitude and attention toward the training based on the attitude and attention placed on it by management. Safety management may have sold executives on the value of the training but individuals are only going to engage with these training tools that they believe will make them do their jobs better and more efficiently.

The Training Contact Lacks Focus

Assuming employees successfully receive communication on the purpose and value of the training, it is important to deliver clear, focused content that builds on the value.

The best world class training with the right trainer and materials will fall short if it really didn’t teach what they needed to know.  Generic feature by feature lectures that provide detailed knowledge is less helpful than giving specific context of how they are going to make the training useful on the job. 

Lack of Feedback and Reinforcement

From a behavioral change perspective, training is just the beginning of the process.  It is the antecedent or “what you want them to do.”  To close the loop you need to give your workers feedback on how they are doing and provide reinforcement when they have shown working knowledge of the material by positive performance. 

Collect and analyze meaningful safety data through inspections and follow up with the workers in a timely basis.  Then recognize them with something tangible to reinforce their positive performance.   Close the behavior loop on your training.  You spend thousands of budget dollars doing it.  Doesn’t it just make sense to spend a few more dollars to reinforce it?

For more information on AwardSafety products or services or other white papers please contact us at awardsafetyinfo@cox.net