Obstacles to Evaluating Safety Training and Strategies to Overcome Them

The case study used is a training agreement between the ICWUC Training Center in Cincinnati Ohio and the Merck Pharmaceutical plant in Elkton Virginia.  The training delivered was the OSHA 10 hour outreach program and it was delivered to 739 workers. The total time allotted to the project was 2 years. 

Site specific curriculum was developed that met all the objectives that OSHA mandates in its outreach programs. At the end of each class participants completed an evaluation. This covered the reaction level of evaluation. Each class was also given a pre and post test. This covered the knowledge level of evaluation. Our plan was not to stop with documentation that learning took place the day of the training. We planned from the very beginning to conduct a performance level evaluation to measure actual workplace changes that came about as a result of the training.

Three months after the last class, meetings were arranged for 80 of the 739 participants. They were randomly selected and represented every department. Union members and all levels of supervision were equally represented as near as possible. Through a series of questionnaires and follow up discussion we have successfully identified a list of improvements in the safety programs at this facility.

This presentation will share some of the obstacles we encountered, strategies developed to overcome these obstacles and the action plans developed to implement our strategies.