Could You Defend Your Safety Training to an Auditor?

Vendors, processors, retailers, lenders and other allied industry in agriculture are requiring more and more audits of our production practices.  One request that is becoming more common is verification that growers and producers of commodities are providing Safety Training to their employees.  Though this is somewhat new to agriculture, these requests are accelerating.  It isn’t just OSHA that is interested in validating your training practices.  These entities see it as another area that they can assure their customers that the food they eat is produced in a sustainable, environmentally-friendly and employee-friendly manner.

For many of these businesses, it isn’t enough to provide an attendance sheet and a date.  They want to know exactly what was taught, who presented the information, verification that the person on the list was actually in attendance, how often your training was done and how the individuals performed on a follow up test of the information.

Here is what you need to be compliant with these audit requests:

• Provide Safety Training on at least a monthly basis.
• Confirm attendance or completion with a digital document or attendance sheet that is signed by each attendee.
• Have each participant complete a quiz of the topic that was taught, grade the quiz during the training, and expect at least 80% correct answers.
• Have a record of the content of what was taught so that you can verify that information if requested.
• Make a note of the trainer and their position in the company.
• Keep this information current and easily accessible.

The best way to provide confidence to your vendors, lenders, insurers and other providers is to show that you are serious about your training and can validate what you are doing.  It shows that you sincerely care about your employees and are passionate in ensuring that they Get Home Safe every night.