When it comes to safety training, especially for new employees, sometimes it isn’t on the priority list. This is a dangerous thing to do as there can be so many negative repercussions. Some businesses do take it seriously, especially those that deal with hazardous materials and chemicals yet there are some businesses that leave it to the last minute.
If there’s danger involved, it’s good to have some refresher training even for experienced staff members, but it is more important for new staff. They could hurt themselves or others by being careless or from plain ignorance. Here are some reasons why safety training is important.
1. Accidents Can Happen Anytime
Accidents can’t be predicted. They can happen anytime even to the most experienced and knowledgeable staff members. That being said, then newer members of staff are even more vulnerable. When working with chemicals, it is important to label everything properly and not cut corners. Staff should know how to handle certain items.
For example, an employee may be required to wear gloves, goggles, heavy duty work boots or helmets depending on the nature of the business and what kind of hazards are associated with that business. Accidents can even happen while they are actually doing their job training. It’s very important to do safety training at the start and not several months down the road. New employees may feel a little overwhelmed initially. This can lead to nervousness and mistakes. When someone has received training, they will feel more confident. This can help to reduce accidents and injuries.
2. Putting Others At Risk
It’s one thing when a new employee isn’t trained properly and hurts himself or herself. However, it is a totally different thing when that employee ends up hurting many others. The possibility of this happening is very real. For example, an employee may be working with hydrocarbons, gases and other hazardous chemicals. One careless mistake could cause many others to be injured or worse. Imagine 30 people inhaling and being overcome by fumes because someone did not turn off a valve properly.
Apart from the harm caused to fellow workers, a lack of proper training in safety can also cause harm to the environment. A good safety training program should educate staff on how to look out for danger, such as learning about biohazard labels and understanding the interpretations. The training program should not only prevent accidents from occurring, but also what needs to be done when an accident does take place. Prevention is always the main priority. After all prevention is better than cure, as the saying goes.
The main goal of any safety program is that nobody should be hurt and neither should the environment. If an accident does occur, training should substantially cover how to limit the damage.
3. Safety Training Can Protect The Company
While the reasons for safety training may be obvious, it is also a way of protecting the business. Business is business and whether we like it or not, it is also about money. If an accident occurs as a result of negligence, the incident could have detrimental consequences for the company. The company’s reputation can take such a hit that it may not recover from it. Imagine a reputation that took half a century to build and seeing everything crumble. There will be fines, clean-up costs, penalties and even lawsuits. It can be hard to recover from that.
Proper safety training for new employees should be mandatory. Training should be provided only by qualified people in order to achieve the best results.
