# 1 November 15 2021: Training Renewal

Author: Mark Alward, Owner of Martin’s Safety Training and Safety Course Developer

Many People get frustrated about needing to take the course, or a refresher course every three years.

The easy answer is to simply tell them that regulation requires it; so you don’t have a choice.

However, taking the advice from Mary Poppins: “just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down” helps us value the logic behind these renewals.

Complacency of an excellent operator/worker can, and does happen: (See photo)
- Risking crushing a hand by wrapping it around the guard of a forklift; (top left)
- Not making sure a ladder is secure before climbing; (top right)
- Using guard rails as a ladder, risking a machine tipping over; (bottom left)
- Allowing a forklift and loads too closely to people. (bottom right)
BUT NOTHING WILL HAPPEN, BECAUSE YOU ARE ONLY DOING IT FOR A MINUTE:
- We have all used the excuses: “I am only doing it for a minute” or “it’s just around the block”;
  - A fall, or any accident, takes half a second to happen; so if you are doing it for a minute, you have 120 chances for a problem:
    - The next time you think that way, try saying: “I have 120 chances to get hurt, but I am going to do it anyway”…NOBODY SAYS THAT;
    - For me, it was helping a buddy move; we were only going up the street and his brand-new double side refrigerator fell and landed hard on the tailgate, creasing the fridge badly-no one was injured…well, until his wife saw it.

Complacency can cause other problems:

Sometimes old habits can cause efficiency problems.

Not because the operator/worker is a bad employee or poor equipment operator; but because “they have always done it that way”.

Sometimes a fresh look during training renewal helps people realize they could do better.Forklift Drivers:

Think of how you might move the forks as you approach a load:
- Many have ruined several sheets of laminate or drywall by hitting them with the forks, instead of the forks going where they were intended;
- Or bags of seed, grain, dog food, etc. being busted open the same way.

- Construction workers:
  - Many documented and proven accidents have happened by a good worker falling from a roof or structure because “those darn ropes get in the way”; so they don’t use them, or they set it up to look like they are being used but do not connect their lanyard;
  - One instance of moving a load too closely, or over a person on a telehandler and hitting a bump or rut at the same time, could cause a skid of bricks, lumber or anything else to fall and injure the nearby worker.
YOUR EXAMPLE TO YOUNGER OR LESS EXPERIENCED WORKERS WILL BE COPIED:
- Will yours encourage safety and efficiency?;
- When actions get copied, they are never up to the same standard as what is originally shown:
  - Start a message in a circle and have each person pass it on to the next, and that message will be distorted somehow when it gets all the way around.
EFFICIENCY MATTERS:
- When small mistakes happen, they cost money:
  - Lost time for clean up;
  - Lost product;
  - Loss of morale when the boss gets upset;
  - RAISES ARE BASED ON PROFITS AND PRODUCTIVITY, SO EFFICIENCY MATTERS.

Really, it’s up to you if renewals are useful:

You can be grumpy you have to take the course again and complain to the training company (like it’s our fault! 😊)

You can see if you can find a way to improve-even just a little;
Either way, enjoy a day doing something different than your normal routine;
- And don’t forget, the trainer is not the enemy!