Managers' Perceptions of the Value and Impact of Worker Health and Safety Training: Understanding the Opportunities and Limits of Training As a Tool for Prevention

Worker training is a valuable tool for protecting workers from occupational hazards and preventing work-related illness and injuries. This is particularly true in the case of jobs involving hazardous materials and hazardous waste, where federal OSHA regulations require baseline and annual refresher training for workers engaged in Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER).

Research studies to evaluate HAZWOPER training have documented a number of positive outcomes—from workers’ increased knowledge of hazards, changed attitudes, and feelings of efficacy to greater likelihood of taking action in the workplace. Such outcomes are valuable for enhancing worker wellbeing and addressing occupational health disparities. Few studies to date, however, have considered worker training such as HAZWOPER from the management point of view—their reasons for providing training, the value and impacts they perceive, and their support of worker involvement to identify, control and prevent hazards. These factors are important given management’s role in ensuring companies and agencies comply with relevant state and federal standards, their influence over the types of training employees receive, and their overall responsibility for workplace conditions and hazard prevention.

Under a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Training Program, four university-based training providers offering open-enrollment and contract H&S courses to employers and the general public conducted an exploratory study of managers’ role in HAZWOPER training. The study targeted managers from both public and private sectors who sent employees to courses on hazardous waste operations; transport, storage, and disposal; emergency response; and/or refreshers in 2011-2012.

This presentation will review the methods and findings from this research project and discuss implications for promoting health and wellbeing in the workplace. A total of 109 individuals completed an online questionnaire. We found that 42% of respondents cited regulations as the most important reason to provide training; many indicated they would provide less training if there were no standard in place. Three-quarters reported training had improved workplace conditions, but fewer than half said they were likely to involve trained employees in aspects of the organizations H&S program. The findings highlight the role regulations play in supporting H&S training provisions in many workplaces. The findings also point to important contextual factors—namely management support for worker engagement—that may enhance or limit the full potential impacts of worker training as a workplace injury and illness prevention tool.