New Era and No Excuses
It’s a new year, a new decade, and there’s no good excuse at this point for any company that still doesn’t have a program in place to qualify craft employees. If your people are not in compliance, A, you’re not operating at your company’s best, and B, now is the time to get ‘er done. OSHA’s requirements are minimal, and CIS has a compliance plan to help you get there.
In addition to looking for outside resources available to you, CIS can provide instructor training so the veteran workers on your staff who have knowledge and expertise can pass it on to your less-experienced employees. You may have a longtime employee who has only another 10 to 15 years he or she is interested in working before retirement. This is an opportune time for you to take advantage of that knowledge and skillset and get them certified as an instructor, says Debbie Dickinson, CEO of CIS.
“The industry as a whole isn’t fully equipped to offer veteran craft workers the training to be good mentors, coaches, and safety leaders,” she believes. “Working with you, CIS invests in teaching your experienced electricians, carpenters, and crane operators to fill these roles and create a sustainable workforce.” Here’s how you can not only achieve OSHA compliance but work with CIS to get your experienced workers certified as in-house instructors to take your certification efforts further:
Make the trades cool — Organizations need to champion the value, respect, and all-out coolness of being a craft professional. It’s a known fact that a college education isn’t for everyone. The craft trades, which desperately need workers, offer an alternative path to success in the construction field. Companies can help themselves and the industry by having a process for mentoring and rewarding existing craft professionals, and making safety accountability unquestionable.
Lead with safety — Safety concerns are a top reason people steer away from skill-based careers. The CIS/Okos program Leading Safety Works © is one of the many programs that is immediately effective and replicable to keep work and workers safe. Craft-specific safety programs and evaluations, available to employers, should also be available to the workforce.
Train mentors and recruit apprentices — Skilled craft workers are proud of their ability and trades. The problem is that only skilled craft workers can teach others skills, but craft workers are not necessarily born instructors, curriculum developers, motivators, and assessment experts. However, willing craft professionals can be trained to mentor others and still have to time to work their trade. CIS has criteria for selecting craft instructors, which include:
• Recognized skill and knowledge in crafts needed by the organization
• Willingness to share knowledge and demonstrate how to perform work safely and with excellence
• Belief in mentoring others to continue the honor of the craft
• Interest in becoming a Certified Craft Instructor and fulfilling the expectations that accolade sets
CIS is NCCER-accredited to sponsor training and assessments, for pipeline, crane operator, safety, electrical and more. NCCER curriculum expands over 80+ craft areas, each supported by subject-matter experts from hundreds of organizations and dozens of industries. Through the NCCER Instructor Certification Training, workers learn how to teach others, to assess progress, qualify workers, and document trainees’ abilities.
Recruit with confidence — With a replicable process in place, organizations can recruit with confidence, set goals, plan rewards and recognition for individuals’ contribution toward achieving goals, and do so with clear safety accountability. The result is a sustainable workforce that is continuously working, producing, fixing, building, and innovating.
The reality is, if you aren’t in compliance with OSHA rules, you should be well on your way to achieving it. If you still haven’t started the process, you’re shooting your business in the foot. CIS can help you devise a plan to make sure you’re right with OSHA now and that you have the workforce to sustain that compliance for the future.
