Why is Health and Safety Training so Important?

Organizations that expose workers to potential dangers in the workplace, including construction companies that use heavy equipment and machinery, as well as hospitals that deal in all kinds of health hazards require occupational health and safety training to ensure that critical health and safety principles are ingrained into their workplace culture. OSHA safety training should; however extend well beyond an employee’s introduction to their job, and must encompass changes to their job description and working conditions. Without proper understanding of the safety hazards and practices relating to their job, workers are at a higher risk of sustaining work-related injuries, illnesses, or even death.

Occupational health and safety training is crucial to company culture. New employees entering a company must be given the sense that the organization they are working for places high priority on their safety and wellbeing. When health and safety practices are ingrained into an organization’s culture there will be greater accountability in terms of the knowledge and practice of workplace-specific health and safety measures, policies, and procedures.

OSHA safety training must be based on the most relevant aspects of health and safety in an organization’s unique setting. Companies must carefully study safety and health related incidents in order to make necessary adjustments and changes to their standard procedures and policies, preventing similar accidents, illnesses and threats in the future. A head safety officer must be in place to be accountable in overseeing the collection and analysis of incident data, as well as reviewing such information with his or her interdisciplinary team. This way, executive leaders can better delegate development of better and more efficient safety training as new or revised procedures and policies are disseminated to managers and leaders. Managers, in turn, must ensure clear and effective relay of these changes in procedures and policies to affected workers or implement updated safety seminars and training programs to ensure the proper relay of information, organization-wide.

Good safety training contributes to the overall productivity and growth of a dynamic organization because safe and healthy workers can do their job more efficiently, with the peace of mind that they are protected from occupational hazards and that proper procedures are in place in case emergencies do occur. Safety training also helps ensure that proper safety procedures are in place to prevent workplace illnesses and accidents, among many other occupational risks.