Promoting Safety Engagement on the Job
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Anyone who operates heavy equipment understands the importance of safety preparedness and execution, but in the world of woodyard operations, safety is paramount.
Just ask Chad Blackmon, corporate safety manager for The Price Companies, a woodyard operator and designer with 30 locations in the US. "The Price Companies consider employee safety their top priority," Blackmon notes. "Safety lays the foundation for our focus on productivity. You can’t have one without the other." This is why Blackmon is always focused on ensuring Price’s nearly 500 employees have the educational tools that best equip them to carry out their daily tasks safely and efficiently.
Having received several complaints from managers in the field that the current training system was too long and tedious (some courses requiring up to nine hours for completion), Blackmon set out to find something that would better meet their needs: a program that was equal parts effective and engaging, without requiring lengthy computer sessions. "Our people can fix anything," he says, "but no one I know can stay attentive at a computer for that long."
During a visit to one of his customer’s facilities in Chatham County, GA, Blackmon found himself needing to take both a basic safety orientation and a site-specific orientation for that mill. Here was a safety platform that was much easier to navigate and without unnecessary redundancy. Blackmon was hooked.
He reached out to TAPPISAFE, provider of that platform, and was able to co-create a basic safety orientation that was tailored to The Price Companies’ employees and specific woodyard requirements. Now, every manager, groundsman, crane operator, and more must take the basic orientation at least once each year. The feedback has been encouraging. "Once they go onto the system and start taking courses, they absolutely love it, especially because we were able to add the rules and regulations for each specific facility," says Blackmon.
"No matter what part of the forest products industry you fall in—regardless if you are on a mill site or delivering to it—safety is an absolute, number one priority," Blackmon adds. And it begins with a well-trained workforce. "Even experts make mistakes sometimes," concludes Blackmon, "so it’s important to always pay attention while you’re on the job, and also take the time to refresh yourself, even if you think you already know everything that’s going to be covered in any safety orientation. It can save lives."
TAPPISAFE is a web-based orientation program that allows the workforce to take industry-specific training online, so they arrive at each manufacturing facility ready for entry. Learn more at tappisafe.org.
Note: This article was originally published in Paper360° Magazine.
