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Assessing the impact of health and safety training: Increased behavioral change and organizational performance
Author(s) -
Ruttenberg Ruth,
Rice Carol
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.23026
Subject(s) - training (meteorology) , medicine , occupational safety and health , hazardous waste , medical education , applied psychology , nursing , psychology , engineering , physics , pathology , meteorology , waste management
Background Annual health and safety refresher training is mandated for workers in a number of employment sectors and also is used to maintain and enhance skills when not legally required. Methods One year following training, hazardous waste worker training participants were asked if the training had been applied at their work or in the community, corresponding to Kirkpatrick levels of training evaluation. Likely response themes were drafted by the authors using qualitative data coding. Results Of the 1,726 refresher participants, 1,094 (63%) provided an entry. Eight theme categories were adapted from the originals, spanning the activities trainees reported as applications of their training: events, actions, awareness, emergency response, equipment, planning and standard operating procedures, training, and use of written resources. Conclusions Asking participants to reflect on how training has been applied provides an opportunity to describe workplace changes made during the past year. Participants documented that training resulted in actions to protect them from hazardous exposures. Specific events where training was used and where actions were taken to improve health and safety represent Kirkpatrick Levels III and IV applications of training. Collecting similar data may be useful to others wishing to identify impacts of training and can be integrated into routine program assessment.