This blog is part three of a three-part series on safety tips from TCIA’s Midwest member engagement manager Jarryd Beats. See part one for tips on leading engaging tailgate safety meetings here and part two for how to properly document your employee training.

I’ve worked with many TCIA members to help them start or expand their employee safety training programs because they know it’s good for their employees and their business. While it can feel daunting at first, improving your company’s safety culture can start with simple steps that establish good habits and create momentum for more advanced initiatives, such as formalizing your onboarding and creating career development programs for both new and seasoned employees.

TCIA offers many resources to help you upgrade and organize your learning programs and your member engagement manager is here to help you navigate all the tools.

Here are a few things I suggest to help you advance your online learning and your safety culture:

1. Elevate your training with online learning: The easiest and most effective way to handle new hire onboarding and employee development is by utilizing TCIA’s 16 online employee training courses. These are powerful training tools that TCIA has produced for tree care companies to train their employees and enable our members to elevate and professionalize their internal training.
2. Show your employees you take their training seriously: If you’re still asking employees to read and study lengthy safety manuals, step back and reflect on the message this sends. Online courses are significantly more appealing to the current generation of arborists entering the workforce. They grew up using technology, already do everything else with their phones, and became accustomed to computer-based learning through school. More importantly, these workers came to the tree care industry because they’re interested in outdoor, active, hands-on work—not sitting around reading and studying books.

Having your company’s own learning management system to enroll employees in interactive, engaging online courses sends a far superior message: your company is state-of-the-art, highly professional, and takes their safety very seriously. These courses include audio narration and videos, and employees can access them with their own personal accounts and devices. As a result, your employees are much more likely to absorb their training, work safer, and stay with your company longer.

3. Get a tailored learning environment: TCIA has taken online learning to the next level by building member companies their own private Tree Care Academy Training Hub. Your Training Hub gives you access to purchase all our online learning courses, allowing you to enroll employees in the titles of your choice and directly monitor their progress, grades, and certificates.
4. Tell, show, and do: No one can learn arboriculture or arboriculture safety just by reading a book or taking an online course. Employees can only fully grasp these skills by taking their knowledge into the field and practicing in-person with a qualified trainer. With this in mind, all TCIA online courses include fieldwork sections with in-depth skill assessments and checklists that you or your trainers can use to instruct and document employee competencies. The “tell, show, do” training model our courses utilize is highly effective when properly implemented.

There are many successful training methods, styles, and practices that tree care companies are doing with their Tree Care Academy Training Hubs every day. If you want to hear more about these, or if you’re ready to start utilizing your own Tree Care Academy Training Hub to improve your employee training, then reach out to your regional membership engagement manager at  membership@tcia.org for a free consultation.

Once you’ve implemented the recommendations shared in this series, give yourself credit—you’ll have built an excellent employee training program.

Your safety policies, practices, and procedures will be equal to or better than most tree care companies operating in the United States. Your employees will be safer, your company better protected, and your safety culture thriving. In effect, you’ll be an industry leader.

There’s one last step: prove it to your customers, employees, vendors, and yourself by reaching a few final goals. Consider having a Certified Treecare Safety Professional (CTSP), TCIA Qualified Trainer, or Qualified Crew Leader on staff—maybe even yourself—and perhaps becoming a TCIA Accredited company. The hard work you’ve already done directly aligns with the principles and requirements of these programs, so completing these goals will give you, your employees, and your company the recognition you deserve.

If you feel your organization’s safety culture or business operations need improvement, I encourage you to take this self asssessment-survey to identify how TCIA membership can help you.

Empower Your Team with TCIA Training. TCIA’s Tree Care Academy (TCA) programs help arborists at every career stage grow their skills and enhance safety awareness. From online courses to advanced certifications, TCIA offers tailored training for safety professionals, crew leaders, and trainers. TCIA members also receive free access to their own TCA Training Hub to manage and track team training. Learn more about TCIA training.