November 1, 2004

"The majority of accidents and injuries in the workplace are related to unsafe behavior, not unsafe conditions," began Mike Lambert, Corporate Safety Director, Republic Services, at the Safety Training and Trends session during MWMA's 2004 Fall Summit. "Effective safety training has immediate and tangible benefits to your department, including increased productivity and employee retention, less absenteeism and reduced insurance and liability claims," he said.

Lambert gave the audience four points to consider when designing and implementing a training program, action, relevance, humor, and credibility. Action and interactivity will ensure responses from your audience. "You can't fall asleep if you're moving around," advises Lambert. "Mix cause and effect stories into your training session and use examples from your own workplace. Show your audience why they should care." He recommends using humor to get and keep people engaged, and peppering your talk with jokes and funny overheads. "Credibility is the most important aspect of a successful training program. Make sure you're prepared. People don't want to learn from experts, they want to learn from people with expertise," he concluded.

EST Solutions President Susan Eppes gave an overview of how and where the more than five-million workplace injuries occur. In the solid waste industry, accidents happen during both commercial and residential collection, at disposal and maintenance facilities and every worker, from truck drivers to mechanics are vulnerable to injury. Eppes went into details about the most common workplace violations, like lock out/tag out violations, improper personal protection equipment and ergonomics infractions. Eppes also provide best practices for common workplace hazards, including rear end loaders, space management, and materials storage. She also discussed best practices for collection routes and defensive routing techniques.

Both speakers agreed that effective safety training depends on employee buy in and supervisor involvement and commitment. "Effective training is not six hours of videotapes. It's an on-going and interactive process," concluded Eppes.