Hopefully, you have a vested interest in keeping your workplace safe. You want to make sure that your employees aren’t injured, both because this is a natural human priority and because preventing injuries can keep your workplace compliant and profitable.
There are some obvious measures you should take to make your workplace safer, such as reducing hazards or putting up important signs and barriers. But it’s also important to pay for professional safety training.
Professional safety training can be costly and time-consuming, depending on the options you select and how you approach it. But in most cases, it’s worth the investment.
Why is this the case?
The Basics of Professional Safety Training
Professional safety training comes in many forms, but it typically serves the same purpose in all applications. The purpose is to provide all your employees, including managers and supervisors, with the education and experiential learning required to conduct themselves safely. It can include things like instruction on how to use equipment, practice with important health and safety steps, or introduction to different types of safety gear.
Obviously, the exact nature of the safety training is going to look a little different depending on your industry and your application. Sometimes, a single person takes charge of the safety training, but it’s more common for there to be a team of safety professionals involved.
An Investment on Two Fronts
It’s best to think of professional safety training as an investment on two fronts.
First, this is an investment in your employees. Educating and training your employees helps them become more productive, safer, and healthier, and it maximizes their chances of success in the workplace. Think of it as empowering and protecting your employees.
Second, this is an investment in the longevity of your company. Improving your safety training is going to improve your safety record, which can lower your insurance rates, increase productivity, reduce compliance risks, and improve your reputation at the same time.
The intersection of these effects leads to higher profitability in multiple respects.
The Impact of Professional Safety Training
Ultimately, professional safety training can pay off in many regards:
- Incident reduction. The first and most obvious benefit of professional safety training is general incident reduction. If all your employees have access to the education and experiential training they need to thrive in your environment, they’re going to be much less likely to suffer an accident or an injury.
- Harm mitigation. Similarly, professional safety training mitigates potential harm. Not only should there be fewer incidents, but the severity of those incidents should also be lower, and you should be in a much better position to respond to incidents quickly and safely as well. The end result is that your employees will suffer fewer and less severe injuries, and they’ll be able to recover quicker from any injuries that do occur.
- Overall productivity and efficiency. Professional safety training can increase your productivity and efficiency, and in multiple categories. For example, teaching people proper procedures can help them work more safely and more expeditiously. With fewer incidents and fewer injuries, your workers will be able to achieve more with less downtime. And because you’ll have dedicated professionals doing the safety training and education, you’ll be able to introduce and complete the curriculum more quickly.
- Insurance cost reductions. Many insurance companies are willing to extend a discount to companies with impeccable safety records. As a long-term result of investing in professional safety training, you’ll likely see lower insurance rates. In some cases, your insurance company may even be willing to pay for a portion of your safety training.
- Liability limitations. Investing in professional safety training is also a way to limit your liability as a business. It produces a paper trail so that you can prove how much you’ve invested in employee safety. If an employee suffers an injury only as a result of their own inability to follow safety procedures, they won’t be able to sue your company successfully.
- Employee confidence. Many employees appreciate the opportunity to undergo safety training. It gives them more confidence in their work, in their environment, in their employer, and even in the people around them. That greater confidence can lead to productivity benefits and overall increases in morale.
- Employee retention. As an extension of this, professional safety training can help you improve employee retention. Employees want to work for employers that take their safety seriously, and providing professional safety training is one of the best ways to show that you care.
There are many factors that make professional safety training worth the investment. Regardless of whether you’re more interested in long term profitability or just keeping your employees safe, paying for professional safety training can help you achieve your goals.
Share
