An Investment in Safety and Training is an Investment in Your Company’s Success
With June being Trench Safety Month, and June 19-23 comprising NUCA’s Trench Safety Stand Down Week, it’s important to talk about “why” safety training is important. When you invest in your company safety training, you are investing in your company.
There’s a direct association between a company’s safety and training programs and its growth, competitiveness, safety record, and financial success. Here are some reasons that training in general, and safety training specifically, is a good business investment.
As outlined in the NUCA STAR Program, training reduces accidents and protects employees from injuries and illness, saving the company the cost of lost time, loss of productivity, and increased insurance cost. Training also helps with compliance with OSHA standards and decreases the chance of being cited and fined for safety and health violations.
Effective Training is a Boon to the Bottom Line
Training in general increases employee job satisfaction, morale, and motivation. When employees feel like you are making an investment in their future and career, it increases morale and job satisfaction. This also plays a huge part in employee retention. Positive and motivated employees create more positive and motivated employees. Well-trained employees are loyal employees, which leads to less disciplinary issues and sick days, as well as better employee retention, a critical outcome in a tight labor market. Training helps develop a positive organizational culture in which confidence and knowledgeability are a commonplace employee trait.
Additionally, training helps keep your entire company up to date with the latest advances in technology. Keeping up with new technology keeps employees engaged and gives a sense that technology can help them better perform their jobs safely. This creates a more efficient, productive, and motivated work culture, which in turn helps your company be more competitive in the marketplace.
Safety isn’t the only business aspect benefiting from training investment. Conducting human resources and leadership training helps with issues like sexual harassment, discrimination, and disciplinary actions. Keeping active your yearly training sessions in human resource issues consistent shows your employees that you care. Also, by investing in leadership training, you are making an effort to properly train supervisors on how to effectively deal with the above situations. And, at the end of the day, well-trained employees in this area will again reduce potential costs and liabilities within your company.
By effectively training all employees, from the onboarding process to advanced specialized training, you are developing a workforce that can mentor and train future employees. With your initial investment in training, you are essentially building a group of skilled and effective employees that you can use in various roles within your company well into the future, which can help reduce your overall training costs in the long run.
Steps to Ensure Your Training Program is Working Well
- All employee training should be regular and consistent.
- Encourage your employees to seek out training opportunities.
- Set short-term and long-term training goals for each employee.
- Allow for and listen to any input from your employees so you know how to best serve them and give the resources they need
to be successful. - Make trainings fun and engaging.
- Having open conversations and using interactive and virtual training are things that can make the process more interesting.
Having an effective safety and training program is a valuable asset that will reward your company in multiple ways, including stronger employee retention, improved safety record, fewer potential OSHA fines and injuries, and increased revenue to your bottom line. The question now becomes: what are you leaving on the table if your company doesn’t have an effective training program in place?
