How to Select a Qualified Safety Trainer for Your Facility

The role of a safety trainer in an organization is an important one, and it can sometimes be a difficult role to fill. A safety trainer needs a thorough understanding of best safety practices and the ability to teach and train effectively.

To meet these requirements, a person should not only be an expert in workplace safety, but also know what safety principles apply to the specific needs of your facility. As safety practices are updated and standards change, a safety trainer must stay up-to-date on the latest information and know how to keep the rest of the facility updated as well.

Skills

The job of a facility safety trainer requires many skills. One of the most important skills is an understanding of adult learning principles. Effectively communicating safety principles and practices is a vital part of a safety trainer’s job, so knowing what mechanisms work best for adults to learn new skills or information is crucial.

Another important skill is a significant degree of subject matter expertise. A safety trainer is responsible for teaching other workers about safe work practices and how to comply with safety standards and requirements. To be an effective teacher, the safety trainer has to have a complete knowledge of OSHA and ANSI standards and regulations.

OSHA and ANSI standards aren’t the only areas where safety trainers need expertise; they also need site-specific expertise for their own work environment. Not only do they need to know the standards and be able to teach them, but they also need to know how they apply to specific facilities and environments. Without an expert understanding of a facility’s specific needs and safety applications, a safety trainer would not be able to equip employees effectively with the knowledge they need to work as safely as possible within that facility.

Creating a Qualified Safety Trainer

It is not always easy or possible to find a fully qualified safety trainer with the necessary skills to meet the full potential of the position. The good news is that the necessary skills can be learned.

A train-the-trainer course can be a great resource for equipping a worker to become a well-qualified safety trainer. These courses can be taken through OSHA, ASSP, and other similar organizations and provide comprehensive education for new safety trainers. ANSI Z490 and training organizations, such as Convergence Training, also provide extensive guides to self-education for safety trainers.

A qualified safety trainer is a good way to boost safety metrics within your facility. Whether a fully-qualified safety trainer is hired or trained from inside your facility, these qualities of understanding both safety practices and adult learning principles are necessary skills to produce the most effective safety training.