This article is the second in a three-part series by Jarryd Beats, TCIA’s Member Engagement for the Mid-West region, on building an effective employee safety training program with tips on weekly tailgate meetings, documentation, and onboarding.

In part one of this series, I discussed an easy first step companies can take toward launching or improving their formal company safety training: weekly Tailgate Safety meetings conducted by an engaged leader.

There are many other programs and methods of training that tree care companies can start implementing successfully, some of which we’ll discuss in part three, but for now let’s talk about another very important aspect to any successful safety training program: the paper trail.

Conducting quality safety training with employees is likely something you’re already doing in one fashion or another – whether it’s weekly as a crew, one-on-one in the field, or in the office as a group.

But conducting this training might as well never have
happened if you aren’t properly documenting it.

Proper documentation is vital for keeping your company OSHA compliant, potentially reducing insurance costs, and protecting your company from liability issues.  For example, I recently helped a new member in Kentucky cut his workers’ comp insurance payment almost in half by helping him produce proper documentation reflecting the safety policies and employee training I helped him set up after he joined.

Proper documentation doesn’t just keep you compliant, it can potentially save you money, protect your company, and reinforce  the safety training you’re already doing.

Here is what I recommend for your record keeping:

• Use an Employee Training & Instruction Record (AKA attendance roster) to record all the training you conduct. You can find a customizable form in TCIA’s downloadable Illness & Injury Prevention Program,that allows you to add your logo
• All training counts. Make sure you also use an attendance roster to record as much one-on-one training as you can. If you spend 20 minutes in the field reviewing chain saw safety with a new employee, fill out an attendance form when you’re back in the office to capture that training session. It might not be feasible to record absolutely everything but documenting what you can remember will help a lot.
• Keep one physical or digital folder per employee, maintained in a well-organized, easily accessible area where you will keep all their s Copies of rosters for any and all training should be placed in each of your employees’ folders, along with all their other safety/training documents, such as certificates of completion from online courses they have completed, field work assessment checklists, CPR/FA cards, etc.

TCIA’s Illness & Injury Prevention Program and our free Member Resources have many other helpful forms to help you beef up your safety program and your documentation, including:

• New Employee Safety Checklist
• Equipment and Tool Inspection Checklist
• Daily Driver’s Vehicle Inspection Reports
• Pre-job Hazard Surveys

You can implement these over time – they don’t have to be done all at once. In fact, you’re much more likely to successfully implement these by only doing one or two at a time. You’ll put less stress on yourself and your employees, and you’ll get more buy-in from them.

You’ll then be ready to roll out some more advanced improvements, such as using online learning to augment your new-hire onboarding and employee development training programs – something that some tree care companies have hesitated to jump into out of fear of technology and change. But TCIA has made huge strides in the online learning arena with the Tree Care Academy Training Hubs we make for each of our members, and we have helped many, many tree care companies have great success using their Training Hubs to make their formal, documented training a lot easier and more engaging. I will explain this in more detail in the third and final part of this series.

If you currently feel like your organization’s overall safety culture or business operations need improvement (who’s doesn’t?), then I encourage you to take this self-survey to identify how TCIA membership can best help you and learn more about TCIA’s six domains that are critical to the success of any tree care business. Members can also access all the resources listed above and more in their member account.