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According to recent statistics, the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board receives more than one reported workplace fatality and over 1,000 injuries per day. An even more unfortunate statistic is that 20 young workers were killed in Ontario in one year.
Training is an important part of prevention. By training your employees you make them more aware of their workplace, it's hazards, and the job specific requirements. Remember, people learn best by showing, then doing. Here is an overview of some of the basic steps for setting up effective employee training for your workplace.
By taking some of these basic steps you can make sure that your employees get off to a safe and healthy start.
The list below can be used as a reference when creating your own training checklist. It is important that you address workplace specific training requirements such as use of equipment, tools, materials, weights, objects and personal protective devices required for the job.
This training should be included for all new employees. It addresses Health & Safety information that every employee should know. The information is general, and will be the same for all employees.
This section of the training checklist should be customized for every job. It contains detailed information about a specific position in the company. Although the topics listed are general the content should be specific to the job.
For example all employees need to know WHMIS but the content of the job specific WHMIS will vary according to the position. A Housekeeper's WHMIS training would be different from that of a Service Mechanic, or an Office Worker, or Warehouse Personnel, or a Set Designer for a Stage Production. It is important to keep that in mind and make notes when setting up a new employee's training checklist.
Items on the list might include:
When developing this part of the checklists look at other workplace specific information or items. Examples of other items are store opening and closing procedures in the retail setting, docking procedures at a marina, pool rules and regulations at a resort, handling irate customers in a bar, or changing toner in the office photocopier.
By following these basic steps your employee training should be successful, comprehensive, healthy and safe!
There is a legal obligation for you to train your employees to recognize potentially harmful chemicals, and how to use them safely on the job. This training should include information about the system, hazard symbols, reading the labels, and reading Materials Safety Data Sheets (MSDS).
This training is required for any workplace that employs 20 or more workers and therefore has a Joint Health & Safety Committee (JHSC). If you have a JHSC you have a legal requirement to have a certified representatives on that committee. Certification Training is a two-part process. Part I covers basic Health & Safety training, and Part II covers workplace specific training.
You are required to have employees or managers who are trained in first aid on site every day. Everyone in the workplace should also receive fire and evacuation training. This should include the location and use of fire extinguishers, location and routes to at least two fire exits, location of the posted list of emergency call numbers are, and a detailed list of each person's individual emergency response roles and duties.
Solvents can enter the body in many ways: through your skin, through breathing, and by ingestion and injection.
