Many of the OSHA standards including those for the maritime, construction, agriculture, and general industries contain explicit safety training requirements to make sure workers have the needed competence to keep themselves and others safe on the jobsite; however, contrary to popular belief, OSHA does not provide certified training programs. The closest thing to accomplishing OSHA certification is completing OSHA Outreach training, a voluntary course that consists of 10-Hour and 30-Hour training courses that offer workers with either basic or more advanced training about common work environment safety and health hazards.
Osha training online courses are offered by OSHA-authorized trainers, and upon successful completion of a course, learners will be issued an official Department of Labour.
That said, many workers do not require an official DOL card to remain compliant with OSHA’s training requirements as they just need appropriate training that will teach them how to stay safe on the job.
Depending upon employees’ particular responsibilities, employers must offer learners training that relates to operations conducted at their construction sites, as each employee will encounter various hazards and thus must comply with different OSHA training standards. For instance, if any of your employees are required to give first aid as part of their job duties, those workers would require to complete blood borne pathogen training.
As a result, online safety training in Spanish courses must be as relevant as possible to the individual learner and may cover the safe use of equipment and tools needed for a task, use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to diminish exposure to hazards, as well as other topics as defined by applicable OSHA standards.
If your company operates in a state that’s been approved by OSHA to perform its safety and health programs, you’ll also need to fulfill the training requirements set by your state.
OSHA believes that computer-based training courses can be used as part of an effective safety and health training program to satisfy OSHA training needs, provided that the program is supplemented by the opportunity for trainees to ask queries of a qualified trainer, and offer trainees with sufficient hands-on experience.
Over the years it will get it over as OSHA has repeatedly clarified its position on online training through a series of letters of interpretation, which are official responses to formal questions from employers; however, most of those letters are old and out of date, failing to keep pace with the technology that has distinctively improved in many cases.
Thankfully, OSHA publishes clear guidelines for training development advising companies on exactly what a quality online safety training program should look like.
OSHA Online Safety Training Guidelines
OSHA themselves have accepted several enterprises for online safety training programs as a part of their voluntary Outreach Training. The OSHA guidelines for inclusion in the course, while not regulations, include a variety of attributes that are vital in developing online training.
The online safety training guidelines cover:
- Testing and reporting test scores for each subject topic and a final test
- Removal of anyone who is scoring less than 70% after three attempts on any topic
- Necessary page views of each content page
- Easy instructor availability built into the system
- Ready to print online materials for each topic
- The program must be interactive
- Tracking students’ time in the course
- Providing needed reports and evaluations
Essentially, OSHA wants to see each employer develop a well-rounded safety training course, not a one-size-fits-all, set it and forget it solution and many people also agree that safety is too important. Think of a safety program as a responsive, living entity above the criterion policies and procedures, there must be a continuous bend of input and responsiveness, from awareness-level training to jeopardy recognition and moderation as participation is significant. Each work atmosphere is unique and that’s why live instruction is also crucial; to capture the health and safety variation of each workplace, a certain amount of actual, experiential safety training is a must. One of the key advantages of training online is that it affords employers more time for one-on-one or small group live instruction, by managing the knowledge requirements for each training topic efficiently.
OSHA also guides that safety training programs should be structured around a need assessment. People can also take the 10-minute, no-cost Training Needs evaluation to identify training topics for your workforce.
