- Training workers in the dangers, handling and storing chemicals, and responding to emergencies is essential for effectively implementing safety protocols.
- An evaluation of training programs showed increased information resource use and successful attempts by workers to improve safety and health in their workplace.
- The case study was confined to only workers, so comparison with managers was impossible.
Industries use or release hazardous chemicals in their production processes. Educating and training staff on the dangers of the materials, proper storage, handling, and emergency response is crucial to reducing adverse health and safety effects due to chemical leaks, spills, and explosions. Employers use accredited external training resources to provide relevant, up-to-date, and thorough training for their workers. This case study evaluates how efficient one such training, provided by the International Chemical Workers Union Council (ICWUC), is in improving and changing workers’ ability to protect themselves from occupational hazards.
Background
The International Chemical Workers Union Council (ICWUC), part of the Center for Workers Health and Safety Education in Ohio, provides interactive training for industrial workers to protect themselves from occupational hazards like chemical exposures and spills. The workers are taught to solve various health and safety problems in their workplace. The ICWUC has 18 centers to train workers in hazardous materials response and remediation that meets OSHA’s Hazwoper Standard (29 CFR 1910.120).
The ICWUC has developed several reputed and reliable manuals, flexible and modular field training programs, train-the-trainer manuals and programs, and interactive videos as part of its chemical emergency response and hazardous waste curricula.
Each batch has around 22 students from 6-8 local unions. The students are first responders at their facilities and are exposed to significant hazardous chemical releases.
The ICWUC training combines classroom sessions and practical activities. Workers wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) participate in simulations of chemical emergency spills, such as leaking drums, pipes, values, etc. The educational staff are facilitators, but the focus is on participants’ knowledge and experiences.
The ICWUC program’ has an evaluation exercise to measure achieved impacts on occupational safety and health. Since the workers’ training moves away from the conventional practice of relying only on professionals to solve health and safety problems, it is vital to evaluate the success of the worker-centered approach in achieving workplace safety.
Problems and Customer Challenges
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) also considers evaluating training effectiveness a vital research goal. However, measuring the impacts of training programs is challenging for the training community.
Initially, measuring impact was based on trainee numbers, trainee or student evaluations of programs and own proficiency, or through tests of knowledge of safety and health protocols and changes in workplace practices. A NIOSH report states that 13 out of 22 published studies evaluated the impact of training through self-reported applications by workers. However, training organizations are moving away from self-reports to measuring effects to keep up with vital shifts in safety and health training ideas.
Of the 17 evaluation studies conducted before the current study, none had compared post-training applications with pre-training practices to know the true impact of training organizations.
The ICWUC Center for Workers Health and Safety Education in Ohio wanted to evaluate its program as part of intervention research on prevention effectiveness to achieve workers’ safety and health.
The Method/Solution
Becker and Morawetz, from the ICWUC, addressed this lacuna by comparing workers’ attitudes, activities, and accomplishments before and 14-18 months after the training in this case study.
They interviewed 55 workers, one per a local union and worksite. A detailed survey questionnaire was used to interview the 55 respondents in the ICWUC center the night before they began the 4-day training program. The second set of interviews was conducted by phone and mail between 14 and 18 months after the training ended. In the first round of the post-training interviews, a market research and database consulting service, Convergys Systems, mailed the same questionnaire used before the training to the 55 respondents. Next, they obtained survey responses through phone interviews two weeks later.
Survey questionnaire
The surveys queried trainees’ interest and involvement in safety and health, use of information resources, and attempts and successes at improving their work site. The questions asked were as follows:
- To the questions on interest levels in making changes in their workplace, attendees gave answers as scaled information (1 to 10).
- Workers also had to provide information on specific activities and the resources they used in their workplace. The resource use measured were as follows:
- Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) from many sources
- NIOSH Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards
- O.T. Emergency Response Guide
- National Fire Presentation Association Guide
- J. Hazardous Substance Fact Sheets
- ICWUC’s White Manual
- Workers were also asked to give details on their workplace practices and success in chemical hazards education, MSDS use, labeling and storage of chemicals, use of PPE, emergency response drills, and decontamination procedures.
The data was analyzed using standard statistical software.
Table 1: “Percent of Trainees Attempting Worksite Improvements Before and After Training (n = 55 Trainees/Locals),” Becker and Morawetz, 2014. (Credits: doi: 10.1002/ajim.20034)
End Results and Benefits
The pre- and post-training survey results of the representatives of 55 local unions and workplaces showed a 41% response rate. While respondents’ self-reported interest decreased, the training showed that workers improved their efforts and success in health and safety problem-solving.
Use of Resources by ICWUC Trainees: Resource use increased from 20% pre-training to 69% post-training. Uncommon resources like the ICWUC White Manual and N.J. Hazardous Substance Fact Sheets were used more than ordinary and widely distributed resources.
Training Efforts of ICWUC Trainees: In the following 12 months of the ICWUC training, more ICWUC attendees ( 8 to 27) trained co-workers in their workplace. They also managed to train five-fold more colleagues (1.7 to 8.7).
Health and Safety Improvements: This section has two divisions: attempts and success in changing safety and health in workplaces:
- Attempts: Before training only 56% of ICWUC trainees had tried to improve safety and health conditions. The trainee numbers doing the same increased to 89% post-training. The specific areas of improvement that trainees made in their workplace are compared pre- and post-training and listed in Table 1. The success of attendees rose from 4-22% to 18-55% in making safety and health changes. Improvements in chemical hazards education, labeling of chemicals, supply of protective gloves, and respiratory protection were significant. Fewer attempts were made to ensure emergency response drills, decontamination, and availability of MSDS.
- Successful changes: The ICWUC Training also increased the success rate of facilitating changes in the workplace, as listed in Table 2. The success rate or specific activities was 1.1 to 2.0 times higher post-training. However, the number of emergency response drills and storage of incompatible chemicals was less after training.
Table 2: “Success Rate of Improvements Attempted Before and After Training (n = 55 Trainees/Locals),” Becker and Morawetz, 2014. (Credits: doi: 10.1002/ajim.20034)
Conclusion
The evaluation showed that the ICWUC Training achieved its goal of getting trainees to change workplace conditions for post-training. The study did not explore the issues that were responsible for trainees who did and didn’t try to make any changes in their workplace. So, the reasons for the difference in success in specific activties are unknown.
We would like to observe that emergency response drills received less attention from trainees pre and post-training. A possible reason, which doesn’t reflect on the ICWUC Training, could be that all members in the training program were union members and none were from managerial rank. Developing and conducting emergency drills requires the involvement of the owners and managers, so staff cannot make a significant impact in isolation in this procedure.
Comprehensive Safety and Health Measures
Even the best-designed safety and preventive protocols will not work if workers do not know how to use them and do not know the importance and benefits of these measures. Besides ensuring the themes covered in the workers training to implement safety protocols, employers must also focus on gas monitoring and engineering controls to maintain hazardous gas levels within permissible levels. Precision devices like the fixed and portable gas analyzers offered by Interscan are helpful in monitoring for leaks and providing audio and visual alarms to alert staff in case of emergencies, starting timely emergency response to contain hazardous chemicals and ensure health and safety in industries.
Sources
Becker, P., & Morawetz, J. (2004). Impacts of health and safety education: comparison of worker activities before and after training. American journal of industrial medicine, 46(1), 63–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.20034
