Training Your Supervisors
Bringing Supervisors on Board
The Supervisors
A great deal of thought should go into training the supervisors so they are well-informed, prepared for the most common obstacles, and can effectively participate in a way that cultivates a positive employer - employee relationship.
A supervisor may have conflicting roles -- being a friend of the employee, yet responsible to management for a thorough investigation and injury prevention. It's important to properly explain the program up front so the supervisors can answer questions the employees have. For questions they can not answer, they should know who to refer the employees to for additional assistance.
Familiarize supervisors with "Best Practices." Customize the Best Practices. The supervisors should be active participants in this. This is important because your training will be designed around what you want your supervisors to do. Training isn't just about procedures, it's about the right attitude and effective communication also.
To design training, determine objectives of training by asking, "What do I want my supervisors to do differently after the training?" Your response to this question will be the objective of the supervisors training program.
Draft supervisor best practices on the Supervisor Best Practice Worksheet.
Supervisor's Best Practices Worksheet
During supervisor training, teach the supervisors the new post injury process for your company. The "Stacked Steps" format is one we have found very effective.
Consider WHERE the communication piece will be used and how it will be used. Adapt the format of the Stacked Steps for your workplace. For example, employees at one site may use brochures, for traveling employees a wallet card may be best. For call center employees, a small laminated card or booklet may work well.
Post Injury Procedure Stacked Steps
Because the program is new, you want to bring the supervisor on board as quickly as possible and to gain his/her support for the program.
Note: Communication is key!
Ask for their cooperation in rolling out the new process.
The supervisor must be involved because:
- They have daily interaction with the employees
- The supervisors are authority figures and leaders in the day-to-day operations of your facility.
- The supervisor is the first person to know that one of the employees has been injured and sets the tone for rapid treatment and return to work.
- The supervisor will make sure injured employees are transported to the medical facility and have proper documentation, thus, they must know where to get the correct forms and how to fill out them out.
- The supervisor may be the person conducting the accident investigation
A brief training program or a brochure should be used to explain the new process and new terms.
To communicate effectively, the training program must be in the language of the participants. If some participants are non-English speakers, you'll want to use materials in their language also.
After the post-injury process is developed and you know what the supervisors will do during the injury process, you can begin to develop a Supervisors' Guide to Workplace Injuries. Almost all supervisors have key roles in safety efforts at the workplace; this new process merges with those job responsibilities.
Simultaneously while the supervisors are given the training, the employees will receive the Employee Introduction Letter which includes the "What to do if you are Hurt on the Job" Brochure and Wallet Card.
Note: The main message is: "Our employees are our greatest asset, we are sorry one of our employees was injured, and we need your help getting them back to work."
The supervisors must know the benefits your company wishes to provide the employee:
- Immediate medical attention
- Minimizing the chance of further injury or medical complications
- Continued employment
- Maintaining morale and eliminating problems for the employee when they are injured
- Eliminating future accidents by properly investigating the cause of an injury
The process will help the company by:
- Improving control
- Aligning the length of absence with the medically necessary time out of work
- Increasing the number of transitional duty tasks
Powerpoint Presentation to Supervisors
Wallet Card (English / Spanish)
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