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08/01/2007
OSHA Relations Committee Update
Here at Southern Broadcast Services, we just finished conducting a 30 hour OSHA class for all employees. This is not the first 30 hour training course that we have paired up with the Loss Prevention Division of our insurance carrier, Gray Insurance of Metairie, Louisiana, in order to train SBS employees. Over our 35 plus years in business, we have conducted countless hours of training. One aspect of that training that strikes me as a timeless training truth is that the employees almost always respond to these classes with similar comments such as:
• “We don’t do trench work”;
• “I don’t do electrical”; and
• “Why do I have to go through this stuff again?”
I am sure that any of you who have conducted employee training can add to the list.
However, no matter what comments the employees may make, another truth is that employers are responsible for creating a safe work environment and the continued training of their employees. The mission of all this training is safety and the passing on of knowledge to perform our tasks safely and correctly. It plays a critical role in the education and evaluation of employees for proper safety practices. Employers should want to empower their employees to be safe and to perform at their best. If we do not, as one retired OSHA employee recently told me, we will have the unskilled teaching the untrained and passing on only bad habits.
The truth is training is a lifeline designed to create skills necessary to conduct job assignments safely and efficiently. As employers, it is our responsibility, as well as moral obligation, to equip our staff with as much information as possible. We do not have to know everything as owners, but we do have to be willing to bring in whatever expertise may be needed to train our personnel. Utilizing outside resources as “guest trainers” can often provide a unique view on a subject that otherwise might be received as “the same old stuff”.
Training your employees better equips them to work in a safe and effective manner. Their enhanced performance in turn enhances your company’s profitability. So, arming your employees with the right knowledge through training and maximizing their potential is an important key to productivity. As we all know, training is an on-going process, not an event. Training and safety programs that educate employees on safe standards and practices as well as job specific skills and guidelines are priceless (and that’s a truth you can take to the bank)!
Jim Coleman serves as the Board Oversight and member of the NATE OSHA Relations Committee. He is the President of Southern Broadcast Services, Inc. in Pelham, Alabama and can be reached at 205-663-3709 or jwcoleman@southernbroadcastservices.com
Jim Coleman
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