Safety Training Is More Important Then Ever

November 19, 2018 No Comments

When my dad was young,  80% of workers in the United States worked on a farm.   Back then, when an industry hired a new employee they could assume that the new employee already knew allot about machinery,  electricity,  chemicals , heavy vehicles, working at heights, equipment maintenance, and confined spaces because of their experiences on the farm.

I grew up  in a small town and my family was poor.  If I wanted a bike or a skateboard I had to build them myself – and I did.  I was always helping my dad work on the car, or fix something around the house.  I received my first safety training from my dad and my high school tech ed (shop) teachers.

Today, most young people in the United States are raised in the city and don’t have experience working on a farm.  To compound the problem, many high schools are eliminating their shop, trade, and industrial arts classes!

Unlike years ago, today’s employers can no longer assume that their new young hires have any work experience or mechanical aptitude.  Because of this, I contend that new hire safety training these days should be more comprehensive than it was in the past.  In this highly competitive economy, this is not the time to cut back on new hire safety training – rather, just the opposite should occur.

I hear some employers complain about today’s young workers’ lack of common sense.   These employers assume that everyone should know better than to lift a full compressed gas cylinder of acetylene gas with a crane (see photo above).  I’d argue that it’s not a lack of common sense, but rather a lack of work experience and mechanical aptitude.  When it comes to training today’s young workers, go back to the basics, take nothing for granted, and invest even more time in your new hire safety training program.

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