Like the company of which it is a part, the safety training function needs a strategy to reach and satisfy its customers. It needs goals and objectives, a plan of execution, a model for continuous improvement and a way to measure success. When those components are in place, safety training will yield a return on investment that lowers workers' compensation costs and raises the bottom line.

Set Goals and Objectives
Like any strategy, safety training needs a goal – for example, to decrease illnesses and accidents company-wide by a certain percentage each year – and a set of more specific objectives. The latter may be derived from reviewing accident reports and workers' compensation claims. Which areas of the business have the highest costs in terms of absences or workers' compensation, and what are the specific illnesses or injuries that are hurting the company's bottom line? What type of training is needed to remedy that situation?

At Babcock & Wilcox, Daniel L. Helman, director of Environment, Health and Safety, meets on an annual basis with the executive team for a high-level identification of the organization’s core training needs. “For example, a number of years ago, we decided to put as many people as possible through the OSHA 10-hour and 30-hour courses in a very short period of time,” Helman says.

Some of the company's customers, such as power generation stations and utilities, are requiring that Babcock & Wilcox employees have completed the OSHA 10-hour course as a prerequisite to working at their sites. “It's important to determine training needs annually at a high level,” Helman says. “We then cascade the training objectives down through the organization to each of our business units, and each business unit develops an Environment, Health and Safety Training Implementation Plan. Within the business units, in turn, each facility is also required to develop such a plan that meets its unique and specific needs for the calendar year.”

Once objectives and training plans are established, quantify the desired results in terms of measurable outcomes (e.g., to decrease back injuries from 10 to two). Once training gets underway, keep reviewing accident reports and complaints throughout the year on a regular basis to track the effectiveness of training.

“We track progress on a monthly basis,” Helman says. “Each business unit and site reports a percent complete to demonstrate that it is successfully implementing its site-specific plan. We use training as a leading indicator in reviewing injury data.”

Have a Game Plan
“Fundamentally, you need executive leadership that really supports and sees value in the training,” Helman says. “Then, you need to develop a model that fits your business. Have a game plan, such as our cascading Environment, Health and Safety Training Implementation Plans, in which everyone can participate and which you can communicate throughout the organization.

“Finally, have a mechanism in place to track progress and visibly communicate success not only to your executives, but all of your employees. That’s what motivates people to get on board.”

Babcock & Wilcox's comprehensive training program includes online courses, on-site instruction and practicums. Online training is particularly convenient for the company's 15,000 domestic employees, many of whom work from their homes and other satellite offices. “It would be difficult and expensive to bring employees in from around the country on a routine basis for training,” Helman says.