Home > Articles > How to Take an Online Course > Safety in the Workplace: Eight Online Courses to Enhance Your Knowledge
RegisterSign In

Safety in the Workplace: Eight Online Courses to Enhance Your Knowledge

Jul 29, 2008 Jennifer Williamson, Distance Education.org Columnist | 0 Comments

Is your workplace safe for your employees?  What you don’t know could hurt you—and them.  It’s crucial to make your facility a safe place for your employees to work; otherwise your employees are at risk of injury, and your company is at risk for a lawsuit. 

Factories and companies that handle hazardous waste, work with heavy machinery, and require workers to climb ladders, operate forklifts, and walk on scaffolding know they have to worry about workplace safety.  But even a well-lit, air-conditioned office contains hidden hazards.  Here are eight online courses that can help you make your office, factory, or worksite a safe place for employees.

Hazardous waste management

Does your company handle hazardous waste?  If so, you and the employees who will be exposed to it need to have a solid understanding of how to handle it, transport it, and dispose of it while complying with Federal and State regulations—and without risking anyone’s safety.  You can take online courses in hazardous waste management that cover shipping infectious substances, how to recognize toxic waste, how to label and select proper packaging for it, and how to comply with Federal and state regulations for storage, disposal and shipping.

OSHA training

OSHA training helps employers ensure a workplace’s safety for employees on a day-to-day basis.  Take classes in electrical safety, dealing with bloodborne pathogens, hazard communication course for workers exposed to hazardous chemicals, OSHA certification programs, and implementing effective safety programs. 

EPA training

Is your workplace safe for the environment?  EPA training courses will teach you how to make your plant cleaner, safer and more environmentally friendly, with classes such as stack sampling and hazardous waste management for businesses and factories.

Workplace safety training

There are many different hazards in the workplace—and each one is a worker’s compensation lawsuit waiting to happen.  Whether your employees are at risk for back injuries, falls, hearing loss or breathing problems, online classes will teach you how to minimize risk and make your workplace safer.  There are online classes that will train employees to use personal protective equipment, supervisors to prevent accidents, and companies to create effective safety committees.

Office ergonomics courses

Even if your workplace has no heavy machinery or dangerous scaffolding, your employees could still be at risk.  Eyestrain, backache, headaches, repetitive motion injuries, and carpal tunnel syndrome are all risks of the modern office.  This class will teach you how to design a workplace that minimizes these problems.

Preventing sexual harassment

Sexual harassment happens in all industries.  It leaves employees feeling unsafe and uncomfortable at work, and it puts companies at risk for lawsuits—if it isn’t handled effectively.  This online class will teach you how to comply with Federal sexual harassment laws, handle disputes effectively, create a sexual harassment policy that works, and educate your workforce.

Violence in the workplace

Learn how to handle violent encounters in the workplace, protect your employees, and respond to violent incidents quickly and effectively.  This training program can be a help to company leadership, security personnel, safety managers, and individual employees.

Conducting effective accident investigations

When an accident does happen, you’ll need to determine the cause if you hope to prevent future incidents.  This class teaches you how to trace the events that led to an accident; determine the cause; and prevent similar accidents in the future.  Students learn how to identify various causes including ineffective safety practices, lax work habits, an unsafe environment, and the supervisor’s role—and how to apply these skills in the workplace.

Whether you work on a factory floor or in a comfortable office, workplace safety is crucial to your employees and your company.  Work hazards can be obvious—hazardous waste, dangerous machines, ladders and high places—but they can also be more subtle.  Even office settings present physical dangers, and workplace violence and sexual harassment are possible no matter where you work.  Online classes can help you prevent these problems and create a safe place for your employees to work.

Sources

     

Comments:

blog comments powered by Disqus

More About How to Take an Online Course

Back to Article Home Back to How to Take an Online Course

most popular articles

more popular articles

find your online degree

join our community

@onlinecourseMy week on Twitter 🎉: 3 Mentions, 294 Mention Reach, 4 New Followers. See yours with https://t.co/asvRUvsxaN https://t.co/ZHWzIIEgNWPosted 1502 Days Ago

@onlinecourseMy week on Twitter 🎉: 2 Mentions, 537 Mention Reach. See yours with https://t.co/asvRUvsxaN https://t.co/QvBMU1LmTaPosted 1509 Days Ago

@onlinecourseMy week on Twitter 🎉: 11 New Followers. See yours with https://t.co/asvRUvsxaN https://t.co/9ftI1Gqsf8Posted 1523 Days Ago

more tweets

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jennifer Williamson

Jennifer worked as a GED teacher for an adult education nonprofit for two years. Her students came from all walks of life, and ranged in age from sixteen to sixty-eight. During that time, she became knowledgeable about the unique needs of non-traditional and adult learners. She counseled hundreds of students about their higher education options, including online degree programs.

Twitter | Facebook | Google+