Safety instructions – the most important basics in a nutshell

24. July 2024 | Author: Emily Heinig | Reading time: 6 min

A safe workplace is considered a necessary prerequisite for employee performance in a company. All employers are aware of the enormous importance of safety instructions. However, there is often uncertainty about their concrete implementation: What is their content? How often should they be given? We also look at the advantages that digital safety instructions bring to companies. The following article answers these questions so that even the last uncertainties are eliminated.

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Why are safety instructions important?

Training aims to show your employees how they can work safely, healthily and without disruption. Only by knowing the causes of accidents and potential dangers at the individual workplace can employees avoid misconduct that violates safety.

Training should help your employees answer the following questions for themselves: “How do I carry out maintenance work on a machine with moving parts without risking injury?” or “How do I set up my workstation in the office to reduce the risk to minimize postural damage caused by incorrectly adjusted work equipment?”

If your employees feel competently trained and safe in their work environment, this will positively affect operations. This has far-reaching advantages for your company :

• trouble-free operations
• greater job satisfaction
• responsible handling of equipment and machinery
• permanent quality assurance
• safer jobs
• cost reduction due to less downtime
• ensuring compliance

Safety instructions: rhythm and regulations

Please note that laws may differ in different countries. In general, instructions should be carried out when:

• When new work materials are used or work processes are changed, initial training must be carried out before new employees start work.
• Instruction in the event of changes in the area of responsibility (e.g. a change of job or the introduction of new machines or work materials)
• Refresher training must be carried out regularly and at least once a year. For trainees, refresher training is even required every six months.
• instruction after (near) accidents
• individual instruction in the event of misconduct by individuals
• on special occasions, e.g., accidents at work, job changes or unsafe behaviour

Important: The time spent on safety instructions counts as normal working time in many countries.

There is no exact time for safety training. It depends on the individual case and the circumstances within the company. However, according to accident prevention regulations, it is required to be carried out every six to twelve months.

The employer is legally responsible for safety instructions and acts as a role model for employees. He should make it clear that the health and safety of employees is the top priority.

Although overall responsibility always remains with the company management, they can decide someone else to carry out the instruction. It is important here that this responsible personnel is familiar with hazard protection measures and internal company guidelines. Possible people responsible include, for example, security officers, company doctors or trained team leaders.

What topics should the training cover?

There is no model instruction for every company. Content always depends on the potential dangers and the respective health and occupational safety requirements of a workplace or field of activity. In order to carry out the safety instructions in a structured manner, the content can be transmitted in two topic blocks:

Before selecting the appropriate instruction content, you must conduct a hazard assessment in the company. This is the prerequisite for identifying potential risks.

In addition to the standard content, addressing current and practice-related content is a good idea. This can increase the comprehensibility and attention of the audience. In addition, the employer should always listen to their employees and carefully observe work processes. This way, the employer can always identify areas where there is room for improvement and add or update relevant training topics.

The advantages of digital safety training

In most countries, it doesn’t matter how the instruction is delivered. This creates opportunities to test efficient alternatives to traditional classroom instruction. Different methods are suitable depending on the goal and scope of the instruction. The topic and the group of participants influence how it is carried out.

By using occupational safety software, safety instructions can be carried out in digital form.

Low organizational effort

The planning, coordination and implementation of face-to-face instruction usually take a lot of effort. By using occupational safety software, many processes can be simplified and automated, which significantly reduces the workload for supervisors, managers and employees. For example, safety instructions can be carried out regardless of location or time, meaning the employee can determine the place and time of the upcoming instruction.

Helpful comprehension checks

Supervisors who conduct digital safety training can use comprehension checks if necessary. This offers the opportunity to ask about employees’ level of knowledge. On the other hand, the key points are repeated after each training session, which also has a positive effect on learning success.

 Complete documentation

All successfully completed training sessions are automatically documented in accordance with the law. This means it is possible to prove which employee received and understood which instruction at any time. The content must also be fully documented. All processes are stored centrally in a system so that no information is lost.

Our software solution, iManSys, automatically creates and manages this evidence for you using the “Training & Courses” software world. A practical side effect is that you can always track what training and instructions have already been carried out in the company. Unnecessary multiple instructions or non-participation of employees are almost impossible with a software-supported instruction system like iManSys because it was specifically developed to avoid these problems. In summary, safety training is a very time-consuming project for everyone involved. Instruction software can significantly reduce the burden on those responsible. With iManSys, you can create and carry out your employee training in electronic form directly in the system.

If you want to learn more about our software world, you can read about it here:

Digital instructions

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