Environmental Health and Safety Blog | EHSWire

by Paula Kaufmann

On April 15, OSHA announced revisions to the Outreach Training Programs as part of a continuous improvement program. Effective immediately, these new requirements apply to both the trainers and training materials.  The Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, Dr. David Michaels, explained the announcement by stating, "These revisions will serve to tighten the program controls to ensure the best training is provided to the worker participants. Trainer reliability will be enhanced and classes will focus more on fulfilling students' needs for safety and health training."

Here is a snapshot of the revisions:

• The "program guidelines" are now defined as “program requirements" (translation: must be done).


• Separate procedures are provided for each of the Outreach Training Programs, Construction, General Industry, Maritime, and Disaster Site Worker. 


• A trainer Code of Conduct and a Statement of Compliance requires each trainer to verify that the training they conduct will be in accordance with the Outreach Training Program requirements and procedures.


• Classroom size is now limited to a maximum of 40 students.


• Only translators with safety and health experience can be used.


• Videos can be used for only 25 percent of the training period.


• OSHA course completion cards must be provided directly to the students within 90 days of class completion.


• All construction classes are required to include four hours on Focus Four Hazards.


• All 30-hour classes must include two hours on Managing Safety and Health.


• The new requirements and procedures also integrate recent requirements which require training classes to last a maximum of 7½ hours per day and include a new two-hour Introduction to OSHA training module.

The effect of these changes is higher quality OSHA training offered by authorized training groups because, in theory, a better trained worker is a safer worker. As you reviewed the changes to the training program and trainers, what do you think the effect will be? Do you think that the revisions will improve worker safety or are just another paperwork high jump for employers and training institutions?