| Here's a question for you. Is safety training a | | | | For example, if an employee has a sense of |
| waste of time? | | | | urgency (tension) that is stronger than their |
| For the sake of discussion, let's say that a crew | | | | respect for rules, then bad things can happen |
| of employees go through the exact same safety | | | | when the pressure to perform increases. Or, if an |
| training program. They learn how slowly and | | | | employee places a high value on their own |
| carefully they need to operate their machines and | | | | personal flexibility, then they might be more |
| drive their vehicles. | | | | inclined to "bend" rules. In both examples, rules will |
| Suppose the pressure to keep up with production | | | | get ignored and accidents will happen. That is why |
| or delivery schedules mounts and everyone feels | | | | it is so important to find out in advance of hiring |
| it. Because of the pressure, one employee pushes | | | | decisions, the degree to which employees are |
| beyond the limits even though they've been | | | | likely to use the knowledge they've been taught |
| taught otherwise and gets hurt anyway. | | | | to perform their jobs safely. |
| What good is safety training if people don't | | | | The presence or absence of key, job related |
| actually do what they've been taught? Some will | | | | traits can make a huge difference in helping you |
| think they know better than the experts and do | | | | know whether or not the people you hire and |
| things their way. However, my background in the | | | | train have what it takes to do their job |
| field of employment testing and psychometric | | | | effectively and safely on a consistent basis. Of |
| testing has also taught me to look further for | | | | course, hindsight is 20/20 and you can find out |
| specific attitudes and behavioral traits, like | | | | eventually that you made hiring mistakes, but trial |
| employee tension, respect for rules, and flexibility. | | | | and error is expensive. |