Here's how to conduct a safety training needs assessment in five steps.
1. Determine the purpose for the safety training needs assessment. You may need to conduct a training needs assessment in the following situations:
2. Gather data. Use safety observations, interviews, questionnaires, incident reports and performance appraisals to evaluate your employees' safety knowledge.
3. Analyze the data to identify any gaps or deficiencies between the knowledge required to do the job safely and your employees' knowledge.
4. Determine if your safety challenges can be addressed by training. If your data shows that your employees lack the required knowledge of risks and safe practices, safety training can help solve that. However, some performance problems cannot be corrected by safety training. These would include issues such as lack of motivation, morale, lack of resources, or system design.
5. Propose the safety training solution. If you find that your problem is one that can be solved through additional safety training, you can then go on to develop a formal or informal safety training program that will correct the deficiency. The data you gathered during the assessment will help you develop a safety training program that delivers the right content to your employees and improves your company's safety performance.