Because union members tend to be educated about workplace safety, union workplaces are the safest workplaces! Now, The UFCW Occupational Safety and Health Office will be educating even more union members about staying safe at work with a new program that uses video technology to deliver safety trainings.
UFCW locals that are interested are welcome to take part in the video trainings, which are easy to access and use.
Check out the different safety trainings being offered below–if you’re interested, let your local know and have them contact the UFCW Occupational Safety and Health Office (202-466-1546) for details about how to sign up!
Training Sessions
Lock-Out – Minor Servicing Exception
Major repair jobs are often locked-out properly, but hurried machine adjustments or frequent unjamming can be a source of confusion, injuries and disciplinary action. This training session follows a step-by-step process to help operators, set-up people, machine cleaners and maintenance workers determine if that ‘’quick, little adjustment’’ requires a full lock-out or not. This training can also be helpful for stewards who have to deal with disciplinary action over Lock Out.
This training is applicable to ALL workplaces. It is most useful for manufacturing, food processing, poultry and meat packing plants.
Ergonomic Risk Factors
How can we predict which jobs will injure workers and which jobs are safe? Participants in this training session will learn about some of the elements of jobs that cause ergonomic-related injuries. The training includes an opportunity to practice using a method that combines the effects of three of the most important ergonomic risk factors. This method can be used to evaluate most production-type jobs.
Hex Chrome
Welders who work with stainless steel may be at risk for lung cancer. This training session reviews the hazards and OSHA requirements for plants where stainless steel welding is done.
Hazard Recognition
This series of workplace photographs helps union stewards, activists and safety reps develop an eye for finding workplace hazards. This training session switches the focus from blaming workers for safety hazards onto identifying unsafe working conditions as the true hazards.
Extreme Temperatures
Many UFCW members work in conditions of extreme heat or extreme cold. Participants in this training session will learn about the possible health effects of these conditions, how the conditions can be documented and what can be done to protect workers.
Risk Assessment
‘’Long lists don’t get done!’’ This training session is for any union activist, steward, or safety committee member who is struggling to know where to start on their long list of safety problems. Risk Assessment is a systematic and logical approach to analyzing safety issues to place those issues in order of priority.
Material Handling
Participants in this training session will explore the safety requirements for material handling equipment from pallet jacks to fork trucks.
Zeynep Ton, an adjunct associate professor at the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management, recently spoke at a TEDx event in Cambridge, Mass., and delivered a provocative analysis of the economic advantages retailers can achieve by investing in their workforce. Drawing on a decade of research, Ton maintains that retailers such as Costco that invest in their employees—including higher pay, better benefits and schedules, and more training—have seen positive results, including healthy sales and profit growth, higher labor productivity, lower turnover and higher customer satisfaction.