2017 Training Survey

You said it

Safety professionals also identified the challenges they have encountered when it comes to training. Included are the most often cited challenges, as well as comments from some respondents.

KEEPING SAFETY TOP OF MIND AMONG WORKERS
“Keeping workers interested, workers retaining key information learned, workers applying what they learned.”

“Having all people take it seriously. Office employees sometimes feel it doesn’t apply to them.”

“Taking the same training year after year gets old quickly. Even if it is changed slightly, it still won’t keep their attention.”

“Trying to keep everyone vigilant, not complacent, about the awareness of safety issues.”

“Refreshing the training media every year to maintain the attention of employees.”

BUDGET CONSTRAINTS
“No budget for external resources. All content must be created in-house and delivered in-house as part of salaried worker cost.”

“Convincing management that better training is needed.”

“Having the money to purchase and update materials.”

“Getting high-level executives to see the benefit in the investment in the safety program and training.”

“Management’s productivity mindset and financial expense initiatives.”

TRAINING A MULTI-GENERATION WORKFORCE
“Maintaining interest during training sessions, for the most part with the younger generation. [They live] on YouTube, so I often add in relevant clips to enhance the interest of the topics.”

“Covering topics with enough detail for the experienced personnel to learn and remain engaged while not overwhelming the less-experienced personnel.”

“Balancing the learning styles of multiple generations and multiple groups of workers (sales, office, mechanics, drivers, etc.).”

“Combating the ‘I’ve done it like this for the past 20 years and haven’t been hurt yet’ type of thinking from the seasoned construction veterans.”

TIME RESTRAINTS
“Balancing minimum training requirements and the level the safety department would like to train to.”

“Getting more than 10 people at one time in the same room.”

“Introducing new training components in a quick, time-effective manner.”

“It’s difficult to schedule time in an industry where overtime is a daily/weekly occurrence. That puts the cost of training on overtime.”

“Meeting the needs for shift workers.”

KEEPING TRAINING FRESH
“Providing real-life reasons each year while covering like topics.”

“Making sure they actually learn (which means they apply the new knowledge back at their jobs in their work areas).”

“When it comes to online training, making sure functionality and user-friendliness is as simple as humanly possible.”

“Educating them on how the safety rules benefit them, not make their job harder.”

“Engaging the personnel so they have a ‘takeaway.’ ”

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Next: View an infographic summarizing the survey results

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