Stop bypassing safety with cross-training
Cross-training workers is one way for businesses to do more with less, and it should begin during safety orientation. I’d often cross-train my laborers and other trades on how to respond to a bloodborne pathogen incident. Not every shift had a laborer working (especially on the night shift). It made sense to cross-train them, so we always had someone competent and trained about bloodborne pathogen clean-up on the project who could respond to an incident if needed.
Doing more with less is a harsh reality for many companies these days. Therefore, it’s not unusual for workers to multi-task from their first day on the job. However, employers need to make sure that safety training isn’t left out of the cross-training culture.
Safety managers and supervisors must review job safety analyses to determine necessary safety training for those workers doing the work. In most cases, safety training has to come before the job cross-training can begin.
Jobsite supervisors who make decisions about cross-training need to be aware of any additional safety training that needs to occur. Before training workers on a different task, supervisors should ensure that all safety issues receive proper mitigation and the proper safety training occurs.
Workers should be encouraged to ask about safety issues as they learn a new task. The safety trainer must be aware that more requests for training records may occur and that reviewing the training records presents opportunities to ensure that workers receive proper training. Good recordkeeping can also help management understand if workers are getting all the safety training that might be needed or required.
Key to remember: Cross-training is a wonderful way to allow workers on the jobsite to multi-task while saving the project money and the need to hire additional workers.
