Survey Finds High Rate of PPE Non-Compliance

According to a new survey released today by Kimberly-Clark Professional, 89 percent of safety professionals polled at the 2008 National Safety Council (NSC) Congress have observed workers failing to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) when they should have been.

“We find it disheartening that people continue to put themselves at risk by failing to wear PPE when undertaking hazardous tasks,” said Randy Kates, general manager of the safety business for Kimberly-Clark Professional. “Despite the importance of PPE, there is still an unacceptably high rate of noncompliance in the workplace.”

Kimberly-Clark’s survey marks the third consecutive year that it has revealed a high rate of PPE noncompliance. In 2007, 87 percent of respondents said they had observed PPE noncompliance in the workplace, while 85 percent answered yes to this question in 2006.

When asked to name the top workplace safety issue in their facilities one third of respondents cited worker compliance with safety protocols. Next was insufficient management support and/or resources for health and safety functions (27 percent). Under-reporting of workplace injuries and illnesses was third (14 percent), followed by training a multilingual, multicultural workforce (7 percent), and escalating worker compensation costs (5 percent).

Thirty-four percent of respondents said the economy had affected worker safety training programs or resources. Fifty-nine percent said it had not. Of those who said the economy had impacted safety training or resources, the survey found that:

• 63 percent said it had led to less money for education and training.
• 42 percent said it had resulted in reduced personnel to handle safety training tasks.
• 33 percent said the faltering economy had led to business concerns taking precedence over safety concerns.

This year’s survey also polled safety professionals about the steps they have taken or intend to take to encourage greater PPE compliance. The top response was “improving existing education and training programs,” followed by “purchasing more comfortable PPE.”

The survey questionnaires were filled out by 153 safety professionals who reported being responsible for purchasing, selecting, or influencing the purchase or selection of, or compliance with, PPE.

Why Online Classes Work for Employee Training

The lifeblood of your business organization is your hard-working employees. Without them, your company would come to a crashing halt. It is a sound investment to provide training seminars for them. With an increase in knowledge comes greater worker confidence and increases in employee performance, which will affect your company’s bottom line in positive ways. There are many types of seminars available, including sales seminars and accounting seminars, both of which would improve efficiency in those divisions. There are many national seminars available, which offer beneficial training, but the problem can be the cost if your desired trainer lives across the country or even in another country. One way to provide excellence in employee training without breaking the bank is through the use of online training. Online training seminars work very well for management training for several compelling reasons.

Because the use of the Internet, you are not limited in your selection of trainers for your seminars. Outstanding nationally recognized speakers and trainers provide online training in addition to live seminars. They can speak and expertly address any training need you may have. You will discover online training that covers such topics as mentoring, ethics, interpersonal and leadership skills, negotiation, team building, public speaking, business writing and even time and stress management, which can be appropriate for every employee. However, if specialized training is required, you can find expert trainers ready to teach your employees new skills in the areas of human resources, health care and industrial training, accounting, management and so many more.

Because of the online method of delivery, any training you provide your employees is available to all who have Internet access. Online seminars, or webinars, can be live and recorded. The benefit of a live webinar is that they also often come with a telephone number, so that you can call in, making for an interactive experience. The advantage of a recorded webinar is your employees’ ability to replay it as many times as they wish, which will help improve retention and comprehension of the material presented.

The scheduling of a live on-site seminar can be complicated, especially if you want all of your employees to attend. You would need to essentially shut down the business for an entire day or even more in order for your employees to participate. This is not the case with an online class, and especially if it is recorded. You could have certain divisions attend in a group setting, and rotate through all of your divisions so work can still continue. The great deal of flexibility available when the content is online will help more of your employees take advantage of the training without shutting down operations completely in order to do so.