For some industries, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) training is not just beneficial, but it is also a requirement of the federal government. However, whether you are required to provide health and safety training for your employees or not, your business can directly benefit from having OSHA trained employees. The type of training required for your employees depends directly on the employee’s job requirements and the type of work they perform throughout the course of their employment.
OSHA Training
If you are a business owner or manager, you should already be aware of some of the OSHA standards and training requirements. OSHA is a governmental organization that was formed in 1970 to oversee workplace safety by setting various rules and regulations and providing effective safety trainings. Businesses across the country are required by law to follow these rules and regulations set in place by OSHA for their specific industry. This may or may not include proper OSHA training. This training can include classroom training, as well as, hands-on training, and can be offered right at the workplace.
Benefits of Trained Employees
Certainly as a business owner or manager, you want to know how OSHA training will directly affect your business. After all, you do not want to implement new policies that will adversely affect business productivity and profits. There are, in fact, numerous benefits for businesses that provide OSHA training for their employees.
- Increased Productivity
Proper OSHA training can, and will, increase productivity in the workplace. By properly training the staff, they are more likely to follow the required safety and health standards. This equates to a decrease in the number of time employees need to stop working and redo the work the correct way. For productions line workers, this is crucial, since shutting down the line is a very time-consuming practice that eats away at overall productivity. It also brings more organization to the workplace, since all the employees are trained in the same process, and to follow the same set of guidelines. This, too, will work to increase productivity.
- Fewer Injuries
Following proper safety regulations will also ensure that there are fewer injuries at your workplace. The OSHA training will provide your employees with an understanding of how to perform many of their daily tasks in a way that will reduce the risk of injury. As an employer, you already know how devastating it can be to the workplace to be without just one employee while they are recovering from an injury. This does not even include the worker compensation costs and medical expenses that the company will need to pay for each injured employee.
- Less Violations
One thing that many employers dread is an OSHA inspection. If required practices are not followed correctly within the workplace during an inspection, your business could face some hefty fines. In addition, you may be forced to stop production until the company makes the necessary changes to bring it back into compliance. Proper training of all OSHA standards will greatly reduce the chance of receiving a violation during one of these inspections. This keeps production going strong, and decreases your out-of-pocket expenses.
Cost Effective
All businesses owners and managers tend to look at the bottom line and make decisions based on what is most profitable for the company. While OSHA training will initially cost the company some added fees, the benefits of the training will far outweigh these costs. The increase in productivity alone will help to boost overall profits by allowing more goods and services to be delivered in a shorter period of time. Add this to the fact that your employees will be working together under the same set of rules, there will be less injuries in the workplace and a reduced chance of being fined for an OSHA violation, and all add up to higher profits for the company.
As any employer can see, the benefits of having OSHA trained employees far outweigh the costs involved in providing the training. After all, just one serious injury in the workplace could potentially bankrupt the company and put you out of business. As a business owner, you really cannot afford to have untrained OSHA employees.
Written by the team at Premier Warehousing Services, a leading warehousing services company.