The workplace environment is among the factors that are known to affect employee performance. Generally, a workplace that prioritizes safety tends to fuel employee performance, engagement and satisfaction. On the other hand, when firms fail to provide an environment devoid of safety hazards, they place the wellbeing and safety of their employees at grave risk. Research has been conducted on the different measures that organizations can adopt as part of their efforts to enhance workplace safety. Training has emerged as one of the most effective interventions. An examination of existing literature and research reveals some common themes. The main themes include the impact of a lack of a workplace safety culture, the benefits of workplace safety training and the best practices for conducting this training. These themes are explored in detail in the following section.
Background Review
Before exploring the themes identified above, it is essential to provide a background review of workplace safety. Employers have an obligation to take all necessary steps to ensure that the workplace is safe (Mullen, Kelloway & Teed, 2017). In the US, there are laws which mandate safety. For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) that was enacted in 1970 has provisions which require employers to rid the workplace of any safety or health hazards. When they take safety seriously, employers indicate that they respect the law. However, as Mullen, Kelloway and Teed observe, workplace safety is also a demonstration of effective leadership. As will be made clear in the following discussion, workplace safety is needed now more than ever particularly if employers wish to develop a motivated and highly productive workforce.
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Impact of a Lack of Workplace Safety Culture
For one to recognize why safety training is needed, they should understand what happens when a firm has failed to establish a workplace safety culture. Stress is among these impacts. Lu and Kuo (2016) joined forces to conduct a study whose goal was to determine the relationship between stress and the workplace safety culture. Their main finding is that emotionally intelligent employees are able to control their stress levels as they seek to improve workplace safety. However, the main takeaway from the study is that an unsafe workplace culture yields stress among employees. Moral disengagement and flagrant violations of safety protocols are other outcomes that firms without a proper safety culture witness (Petitta, Probst & Barbaranelli, 2017). When a firm has failed to implement a safety culture, employees basically have no reason to follow safety guidelines. Petitta and her colleagues share that the lack of a safety culture also discourages employees against reporting accidents. Lu and Kuo’s text echo the argument that Petitta and her colleagues raise regarding the damaging impact of lack of safety culture at the workplace. These researchers challenge employers to recognize that without a safety culture, it is extremely difficult to engage employees and ensure that they find satisfaction. Injury and even death are other possible impacts that researchers have determined could result if a firm does not have a workplace safety culture in place (Palali, & Van Ours, 2017). There appears within the research community that if they are to safeguard employee welfare, firms must invest in workplace safety.
Benefits of Workplace Safety Training
Now that the damage resulting from the lack workplace safety culture has been outlined, the stage is set for an examination of the benefits that firms are poised to experience when they implement workplace safety training. Loeppke, Hohn and Baase et al. (2015) are among the researchers who have focused their efforts on revealing the benefits of workplace safety training. In their text, they identify training as one of the tools for improving workplace safety. They note that when they implement training initiatives, firms make meaningful contributions to promoting the welfare of their employees, and the communities within which these employees live. While the article that Loeppke and his colleagues penned is concerned with firms in the healthcare industry, the insights that they share can help companies in any other industry to enhance employee health and wellbeing. Facilitating hazard recognition and eradication is another benefit that workplace safety training presents (Namian et al., 2016). Training equips employees with the skills and knowledge that they require to identify hazards and take steps to eliminate theme.
As noted earlier, the OSHA act is the main law that stipulates safety training for employees. Taylor (2015) authored an article whose focus is the impact that the provisions of this law have had on the workplace. He observes that compliance with this law has enabled organizations to reduce fatalities and injuries. Taylor’s observations are not surprising. It is indeed reasonable to expect that by adopting safety training, employers are successful in keeping fatality and injury rates at low levels. Scholars have also found that training insulates firms against court cases and legal liability. For example, Moffat-Bruce, Ferdinand and Fann (2016) observed that training keeps healthcare providers secure against legal liability as practitioners leverage the training provided to minimize and report medical errors.
Workplace Safety Training Best Practices
It is evident that workplace training holds the key to creating environments and culture that enable employees to flourish. If they are to succeed in conducting safety training, firms need to adopt various best practices that are understood to enhance the effectiveness of the training programs. McCaughey, DelliFraine and Erwin (2015) shed light on these best practices. The practices include support from the leadership and making safety training mandatory. For the safety training to deliver the desired outcomes, it should be accompanied with strong support from the leadership and mandating the organization to prioritize the training. Integrating technology is another best practice that enhances workplace safety training. This is according to Nakayama (2015) whose text addresses the impact that technology has on training. Nakayama uses online training as an example of the technologies incorporated into workplace training. He observed that online training enables employees to gain information without encountering the risks associated with traditional instruction. There is no doubt that technology will define the future of safety training. As an increasing number of firms experience the impact of technology, one can predict that technologies like online education will play a more central role in employee training.
Conclusion
Employee engagement, satisfaction and high performance are among the main goals that firms strive to accomplish. Safety training offers them a platform to achieve these goals. Research has shown that in addition to increasing satisfaction, workplace safety training also enhances the wellbeing of employees. Firms seeking inspiration and persuasion to implement safety training simply need to examine the costs and damages that result when they fail to adopt safety training. Injury, death and legal liabilities are some of the adverse outcomes of the lack of training. As they create safety training programs, organizations will be positioning themselves to enjoy a number of benefits. These benefits range from better employee performance to the creation of a culture that acknowledges the importance of safety. When they design the programs, firms should remember to incorporate technology and challenge their leaders to become closely involved in the rollout of these programs.
References
Loeppke, R. R., Hohn, T., Baase, C. et al. (2015). Integrating health and safety in the workplace: how closely aligned health and safety strategies can yield measurable benefit. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 57 (5), 585-97.
McCaughey, D., DelliFraine, J., & Erwin, C. O. (2016). Best practices to promote occupational safety and satisfaction: a comparison of three North American hospitals. Advances in Health Care Management, 17, 137-159.
Moffatt-Bruce, S. D., Ferdinand, F. D., & Fann, J. I. (2016). Patient safety: disclosure of medical errors and risk mitigation. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 102 (2), 358-62.
Mullen, J., Kelloway, E. K., & Teed, M. (2017). Employer safety obligations, transformational leadership and their interactive effects on employee safety performance. Safety Science, 91, 405-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2016.09.007
Nakayama, S. (2015). Safety training enhancing outcomes through virtual environments. OnePetro, 60 (2).
Namian, M., Albert, A., Zuluaga, C. M., & Jaselskis, E. J. (2016). Improving hazard-recognition performance and safety training outcomes: integrating strategies for training transfer. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 142 (10).
Palali, A., & Van Ours, J. C. (2017). Workplace accidents and workplace safety: on under-reporting and temporary jobs. Labour, 31 (1), 1-14.
Petitta, L., Probst, T. M., & Barbaranelli, C. (2017). Safety culture, moral disengagement, and accident underreporting. Journal of Business Ethics, 141 (3), 489-504.
Taylor, E. L. (2015). Safety benefits of mandatory OSHA 10 h training. Safety Science, 77, 66-71. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2015.03.003
