In 8 years as an Electrical Safety Trainer, I have trained over 120 companies and given just over 900 training classes. Getting settled at the beginning of a class, we discuss class materials and format, and I encourage participants to take notes in preparation for the TEST at the end of training. At that point, I will undoubtedly have someone say, “What if I don’t pass?” My response is usually: “The purpose of this class is not to pass a test; the purpose of this class is to give you the information to get you home safely.” The purpose of the test is to re-emphasize key points.
I have been to many large manufacturing or food production facilities that have electrical maintenance workers who have been working on electrical components for 20-plus years and never once been through a good NFPA 70E (electrical safety) class. They are shown a video that takes 30 minutes or an hour, and the “Compliance Manager” gets to check a box stating training on that subject is done. Wow! Then there are other companies that require live trainers with credentials (such as Certified Electrical Safety Compliance Professional – CESCP, offered through NFPA) and proven experience before they would allow them onto their site—now that is more like it!
I have many first-time participants that tell me, “Oh man, I am not doing that again!” when they realize something they had been doing was quite dangerous. Even folks that have been through the training before thank me and tell me that it was a great reminder of that energy that is just waiting to hurt them. There are many misconceptions out there: “If the door is closed, we are fine,” or, “If I wear a suit, nothing can hurt me.” High-quality training corrects these misunderstandings and gives electrical maintenance workers a much-needed dose of reality.
Production of X-number of widgets is one of the biggest barriers to getting workers properly trained in electrical safety. “We can’t afford to pull maintenance off for 4 hours!” To those folks, I ask: what is more costly… a planned outage, or an unplanned outage? Get someone hurt due to production numbers and you will not only have loss of production—likely willful OSHA citations, among many other costs. I previously worked in a facility that had 24/7/365 production… they also always arranged the schedule so shifts could be covered, and the employees could have good, quality, LIVE training (sometimes 8 hours). When someone tells me it is impossible to schedule, I know that is simply untrue—you are just not willing to try to make it work.
Live, instructor-led training is the gold standard. As an instructor, I can see you and tell if you are following what I am saying. We get a chance to interact, and I can tailor the content to what you do at your facility. Questions are more likely to be asked (and answered), and retention of information is through the roof compared to other methods.
Written by: Brent Mollenhauer, CSP, CESCP Senior Safety Trainer, ESCO Power & Safety