Safety Office, Commissary Building
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Phone 519 888 4567 Ext. 33587
Fax 519 886 8082
Email: safety@uwaterloo.ca
The Safety Office develops most of the general training for the University but a supervisor or department may want to develop additional general or specific training for their workers. This page explains the Safety Office process for developing and maintaining training and discusses how it can be used by supervisors to develop site-specific training.
Training courses need to be developed to impart or improve the skills, abilities and knowledge to influence their work behaviour and attitude to perform the tasks of their job safely and effectively.
Following a systematic approach utilizing the Plan, Do, Check, Act process for developing training courses includes determining:
Conducting a training needs assessment will determine what training is required by identifying the hazards of the job or task and then determining the controls necessary to remove or mitigate the risk of exposure to the hazards.
Begin with a risk assessment of the job, task or procedure to determine the hazards that are present so that appropriate controls can be implemented to reduce the risk of exposure. Ensure that the controls follow the hierarchy of controls:
Training objectives should be clearly stated at the beginning of the training course. Objectives should indicate the target audience and the desired level of skill that is expected upon completion. The objectives need to be simple and easily demonstrated. Training objectives are tied closely with the results of the risk assessment that identifies the controls for specific hazards.
The goal of training is to teach to the participant:
Safety training can be delivered in many formats. Delivery method is based upon the level of risk. Higher risk work requires more in-depth training and demonstration of competency. Delivering training for higher risk activities may require performing activities with higher risk, for example a forklift operator will likely have to place loads in racking systems to demonstrate competency. Methods of delivery include but are not limited to:
Literacy levels and proficiency with the English language may impede the method of delivery. It is important that the facilitator can determine when language or other learning barriers are preventing delivery of core competencies.
Various methods are available to assess knowledge:
Level of competency can be deemed inadequate when there are indications that competency is deteriorating or lacking, this includes but is not limited to:
Training courses shall be periodically reviewed. Periodic review should consider the following when.
Safety office training that is part of a program (e.g. the Working with Radiation (SO 2030) and the Radiation Program) is naturally reviewed yearly along with the yearly program review. Any training course that is not part of a program (e.g. Forklift Training (SO 1027)) is reviewed periodically as needed at a minimum of every five years and completion of the review is documented by the Safety Office.
Feedback from the training should be solicited from trainees to assist with the review. Feedback should consider:
The Safety Office collects feedback from in-class participants through paper forms, and online participants via a LEARN survey at the end of the course.
Refresher training is provided to remind the workers of their duties and what is necessary to successfully complete a task safely. The need for refresher training is determined based off of:
The content of refesher training should be based off the same process as full length training (i.e. needs analysis).
Supervisors are required to provide site/task-specific training to their workers on the processes and procedures used for their work. This section provides examples of how supervisors can use the training development process to complete site/task-specific training.
A supervisor is looking to purchase a new engine lift for lifting large pieces of equipment and moving them around their lab. As the supervisor, you need to prepare training for your workers.
Training needs
First, the supervisor will conduct a training needs assessment. What needs to be done to mitigate the risk?
Many lab supervisors may buy the equipment, then communicate to other researchers within their lab that they must read the manual and understand it before operating it. The supervisor may even insist that researchers within the lab sign a form. This does not meet the standard of care we expect at UW.
Supervisors are responsible for determining what hazards exist in a workplace, and ensuring these hazards are communicated to workers. In this case, the supervisor needs to complete a risk assessment on the addition of the equipment, starting with a pre-purchase checklist.
Training objectives
Based on the results of the risk assessment, the supervisor now needs to determine the training objectives for the workers. The objectives need to ensure that the workers can safely complete tasks using the new equipment. Training should include:
Method of delivery
The supervisor decides that the best training delivery method is to arrange for an outside contractor to come in and train the workers on the following:
Evaluation method
The supervisor works with the training provider to develop an SOP for using the lift and each worker must sign that they are comfortable using the equipment based on the training provided and to indicate that they will follow the procedures in the SOP.
Review process
This training will not have a formal review process, such as an annual review, but because this is a lifting device, it requires an annual inspection to verify that it is functioning correctly and can lift its rated loads.
The supervisor identifies an opportunity to link a refresher training session to the annual inspection and arranges for annual refresher training from a third party while the unit is receiving its annual inspection. This ensures that each worker is updated at least annually on the safe operation of the hoist and the supervisor can update procedures if there have been any changes.
A plant operations manager has noticed that several workers have been seen standing on ad-hoc platforms such as chairs, desks and boxes when they should be using ladders or other approved work platforms.
As the manager, you need to prepare training for your workers.
Training needs
First, the manager will conduct a training needs assessment. Using a ladder is the right and safest way to work. What needs to be done to mitigate this risk?
The manager knew that workers had completed the Ladder Safety (SO 1050) training and was wondering why they were having this issue, so the manager went to talk to the workers. It was determined that many times the workers didn't want to go get a work platform for a short task and that the ladder storage area was really messy, and the ladders were hard to get to.
The training needs were determined to be:
Again, if the manager would have just told people to use the ladders, the manager may have missed out on some of the root causes.
Training objectives
Next, the manager will determine the training objectives for the staff. The objectives will be to ensure that workers:
Method of delivery
This manager will use a toolbox talk. The manager will provide supervisors notes for a short discussion that they are expected to complete with all workers at the beginning of their next shift. A paper copy will also be posted on the notice board with a picture of how the ladder storage area should be organized.
Evaluation method
This training will be evaluated by work observation. The manager will go out of their way for the first couple weeks to check ladder use and the storage area to see if the housekeeping has improved. Furthermore, the manager has decided that any ladder infractions will be reported to the worker’s supervisor and the worker will be required to retake the Ladder Safety (SO1050) training again.
Managers can require their workers to re-take a course at anytime as a refresher if they feel that the worker needs the additional training to safely complete their job. Some high-risk and/or legislated hazards already have refreshers built in such as Biosafety training (SO 1069) and Working with Radiation (SO 2030), but a supervisor may always request a worker to take it sooner.
Review process
This training will not have a review process as it is only intended to be used once. The manager will continuously monitor if the issue persists and implement further training, if necessary.
If the manager chooses to make a full training course, documenting this process may be helpful.
Safety Office, Commissary Building
University of Waterloo
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1
Phone 519 888 4567 Ext. 33587
Fax 519 886 8082
Email: safety@uwaterloo.ca
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within our Office of Indigenous Relations.