📚 Guide by Safety Mom · Allstar Enviro Safety — Tips For Quick And Effective Safety — a Safety Mom · Allstar Enviro Safety guide for Canadian oil & gas, construction, and industrial workers. Written and reviewed by Arliss Levine, CRSP, CHSC, Calgary lead safety instructor.
🔗 Related Safety Mom courses & guides: H2S Alive Calgary · Standard First Aid Calgary · Oil Sands Safety Certs · Instructor: Arliss Levine, CRSP, CHSC
Safety training and compliance with local and national guidelines doesn’t necessarily require a lot of time and money in order to be effective. In fact, you can implement a top-notch compliance management system if you plan ahead and use some of the time-tested tools that other businesses put into practice. Here are some tips for quick and effective safety training:
Communicate the Need for Safety Training
Safety training begins with communication from the top. Whether you put together a series of anecdotes about the tragedies that occur when safety is neglected or you list a number of statistics about the harm that a neglect of safety can bring, any new safety program must be presented as a clear need for employees. If they don’t see the value in the training, it will be harder to put into use.
Offer Incentives for Safety Training
Cash bonuses, an extra day off, or a valuable prize can all provide extra incentives for employees to participate in a safety training program. While the focus should always be on the value that safety provides to employees, a prize or contest can help drive interest in your new compliance management system and keep any voices of dissent to a minimum.
Use a Pre-Designed Safety Training Program
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when you implement a compliance management system. By using a pre-designed course, you will have the peace of mind that comes from knowing your training materials are in compliance with local and national standards. In addition, a pre-designed safety course will be tested and ready to go so that all of the kinks have been worked out of it. Best of all, you don’t have to spend time building a safety program from scratch.
Keep Records of Your Safety Training Program
As you begin to implement your safety training program, you’ll save a lot of time in the future by keeping excellent records of who has passed which test. This will make it easier to know when to follow up on training or when to provide a new safety training component to an employee.
Evaluate the Need for Safety Training
Before you launch a safety compliance management system, take some time to determine what you hope to accomplish, what the markers of success will be, and whether the safety program you’ve chosen will be adequate to meet them. For example, you could look at past accident reports or interview long standing employees to figure out which areas will need additional safety training. Even a company in a related field may be able to provide tips or advice on how to best proceed.
Evaluate the Effectiveness of Safety Training
By the time you complete your first round of safety training, keep a close eye on employee performance, safety reports, and how managers enforce the new safety standards. Besides this general awareness of employee performance, you should also set aside an annual review where you look over your safety program and update it to meet any new challenges or systems in place at your workplace.
Safety training programs don’t have to be complex in order to be effective. They need the right plan, the right procedures, and the right follow up in order to improve employee health and to bring about greater efficiency.
This informative article was written by Ed Quinn. He thoroughly enjoyed writing this article because he knows the importance of safety training of all employees in the workplace.
Additional Safety Knowledge
Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Framework
Alberta’s workplace safety system is built on the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the OHS Regulation, and the OHS Code (which contains the detailed technical requirements). The three-legged framework applies to virtually all Alberta workplaces except federally regulated industries (which follow Canada Labour Code Part II). Workers have three fundamental rights: the right to know about hazards, the right to participate in safety decisions, and the right to refuse unsafe work without reprisal.
Employer, Supervisor, and Worker Responsibilities
- Employers must ensure the health and safety of workers, provide instruction and training, maintain equipment, and prepare a health and safety program (mandatory for workplaces with 20+ regular workers).
- Supervisors must take all reasonable steps to protect workers, ensure workers use required equipment and follow procedures, and advise workers of hazards.
- Workers must protect their own health and safety and that of co-workers, use required equipment, cooperate with the OHS system, and report hazards or incidents.
Failure to fulfill these duties can result in administrative penalties, orders, prosecution, and in severe cases criminal charges under the federal Criminal Code (Bill C-45).
Hazard Assessment — The Foundation of Workplace Safety
Every task should begin with a hazard assessment. Formal assessments identify hazards, evaluate risk (probability multiplied by severity), and prescribe controls following the hierarchy: elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, and PPE. Field Level Hazard Assessments (FLHAs) are completed for each shift or task change. Job Safety Analyses (JSAs) document safe procedures for repetitive or non-routine work.
Tips For Quick And Effective Safety — Ongoing Competency
Safety competency is not a one-time event. Workers require initial training before first exposure to a hazard, refresher training when procedures change, and periodic competency verification. Employer records must include worker names, training dates, course content, trainer identification, and assessment results. Alberta OHS inspectors routinely review training records during inspections and incident investigations.
Content reviewed by Arliss Levine, CRSP, CHSC — lead safety instructor at Safety Mom · Allstar Enviro Safety Calgary, an Energy Safety Canada Authorized Training Provider.
