Take full advantage of this free safety training
Safety training should never be skimped on, but that doesn't have to mean spending a fortune on consultants or travel.
"There are a tremendous amount of resources out there, free of charge," says Jonathan Dawe, PhD, Simmons' director of safety, health, and workers' compensation. Here are three to use:
Online networking sites.
Scott Gaddis, global safety capability leader for Roswell, GA-based Kimberly-Clark Professional, says, "Instead of investing in consultants to do training, we've actually gone out in a very low-tech way, using a search engine like Google, to visit occupational health and safety web sites that offer high quality, no-cost training content." A surprising amount of information is available online, according to Gaddis. "As someone in my mid 40s, I quite honestly had to go ask my kids what a blog was. But once you get past that, it really makes sense," he says.
Gaddis adds that all information used for training needs to be reviewed for correctness. "I've found some that are not complaint with regulations. This, of course, comes with the territory on the Internet," he says.
Gaddis has used free safety training, including computerized graphic presentations, offered by various colleges. (Two he has used are esf.uvm.edu/sirippt/powerpt.html and ehs.okstate.edu/kopykit/powerpoint.htm.) He obtained electrical safety training from a web site specializing in industrial electrical products (www.usg.edu/ref/about/foc/2007/pres/arc_flash.pdf) and learned about a new standard OSHA is considering on combustible dust at www.osha.gov.
However, information sharing is a two-way street. "We have our own Safety Knowledge Network, where we freely share our resources with others," Gaddis says. (Editor's note: Visit www.kc-safety.com for more information. Click on "Safety Knowledge Network".)
Use social networking sites
Gaddis contacts other safety professionals via social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. "The safetycommunity.com web site has links to the sites to give you a way to search for other professionals," he adds.
He notes that professional networking can pay off. He often connects with peer contacts for answers to occasional questions that come up about new regulations. "Typically I'll have an answer within a couple of hours, and I'm always pleased to reciprocate," says Gaddis. For instance, he recently obtained answers to questions on one of OSHA's personal protective equipment standards, heat stress information, and information concerning a specific idea on how to guard a piece of industrial equipment.
Online contacts are more important than ever because of downsizing, says Gaddis. "Companies are not growing. If they are doing anything, they are aggressively managing the size and efficiency of their workforces," he says. "This encourages safety professionals to network more heavily, because so many of us don't have the staff and resources that we had in the past."
Free safety consultations given by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
At Simmons' manufacturing sites, these OSHA onsite consultations give workers "another set of outside eyes, and it costs us nothing," says Dawe. "A private consultant would charge a couple of thousand a day. It's a no brainer."
In part because of the free consultations, Simmons is "fine-free from OSHA," reports Dawe. "Our experience modification rate is the lowest in our industry, to the point where we could become self-insured instead of being in a fully funded program."
RESOURCES
Free training is offered in the fundamentals of emergency management at the Center for Domestic Preparedness based in Anniston, AL, operated by the Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Courses cover planning, mitigation, finances, and recovery, and how to conduct a hazard vulnerability analysis. For more information on sending employees to the courses offered at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, AL, go to cdp.dhs.gov. For registration information, contact:
Western Region (Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Alaska): Chris Caputo. Phone: (866) 213-9548. E-mail: [email protected].
Central Region (New Mexico, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, Montana, Arkansas, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio): Grant Bissey. Phone: (866) 213-9547. E-mail: [email protected].
Eastern Region (Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, New York, District of Columbia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine): Tom Tidwell. Phone: (866) 213-9546. E-mail: [email protected].
Islands & Federal Region (Hawaii): Sandra Pagan. Phone: (866) 291-0697. E-mail: [email protected].
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