Employee safety training keeps valued team members safe and protects your business financially — key goals for any franchise business, considering the high volume of QSR workplace injuries. But how a business approaches safety training also matters.

Most QSR businesses are able to successfully develop safe workplace programs, policies and procedures on paper and guide their new employees through initial orientation, training and mentorship. Nevertheless, injuries are common.

The problem may lie in getting the message across to employees. When safety training presentations and activities miss the mark, employees may not retain key information, putting them at higher risk of an accident or injury from cooking equipment, machinery or other hazards.

A few simple tweaks to your training can make a big difference. Here are three simple steps to achieving great employee safety training with your employees.

1. Know Your Audience

Most often, the audiences for educational activities are either children or young adults. But employee safety training is different, because it’s geared toward adults. Generally, an audience of adult learners like these:

  • Is self-motivated to learn. Adults tend to be ready to learn, especially when there is an important, timely reason for learning, such as developing a new work skill or learning a task that requires special training.
  • Brings experience to the table. Adults often have life experience relevant to new learning activities. Acknowledging past experiences and knowledge is important and helps adult learners incorporate new information.
  • Wants to know the “why.” Adults appreciate when a training session is upfront about its context, explaining why each particular piece of the subject matter at hand is important and relevant to their lives and work.
  • Needs to feel respected. Adults learn best from an instructor that avoids dumbing down material or talking down to the audience and who is open to hearing and addressing their comments and feedback.
  • Likes hands-on practice at what’s new. Adult learners do well with activities that incorporate the new skills and information they’re learning. Allowing them to practice leads to better memory retention.
  • Benefits from hearing it twice. Adults also do best when new information is repeated and reinforced. It builds confidence and the extra practice gives adults time to master new material, skills and procedures.
  • Prefers a variety of learning activities. Adults learn best when new information is presented in different formats. Listening, watching, reading, writing and physical activities individually and in groups may boost understanding.
  • Thrives on goals and objectives. Adults learn better and faster when there are specific goals and objectives that are part of the training. They enjoy having a road map where each stage of training builds on the last.

With the exception of the occasional junior trainee, today’s QSR employees tend to be adults between the ages of 20–30, while a fair number being over 40. A shift in mindset is often necessary to account for this difference and make your employee training more successful.

2. Combine Learning Styles

Safety training that sticks to just a quick demonstration by a manager or teammate with plain memorization by the employee is not only likely to be boring for all the parties — it’s also more likely to be forgotten, leading to higher safety risks down the road. One easy way to make such training more engaging is by including at least one activity that targets each of the three learning styles:

  • Facilitator-to-Participant Learning – This classic classroom approach is familiar and popular for a reason. An instructor can use this type of learning to provide structure to the training, adding information, emphasizing the key points, guiding discussions and encouraging group participation.
  • Participant-to-Facilitator Learning – This type of learning reverses the classroom approach, giving those receiving the training a chance to take an active role in their own learning. This makes safety risks and training objectives central and leads to better workplace safety outcomes.
  • Participant-to-Participant Learning – The third type of learning allows the facilitator of the training to step back and let the employees work together to exchange information, gain knowledge and develop skills. Learning from each other’s experiences in this way can be powerful in a QSR environment.

By mixing a variety of different activities into the employee safety training, the training will be more interesting and impactful. More importantly, the effort a QSR business puts into designing training to suit a variety of learning styles pays off where it matters — keeping your valuable team members safe from the industry’s all-too-common workplace risks.

3. Set up a Good Training Environment

Learning effectively can be a challenge when participants are cramped, uncomfortable or distracted during a group session. That’s why the right environment can also be the key to effective QSR safety training. Key questions to ask yourself include:

  • Does everyone attending the class have enough space to sit comfortably during the training? Personal space is important. If the space available for training is too small for everyone, consider breaking up the training into several smaller group sessions.
  • Is there enough room available to spread out for the activities and interactions between participants? Participants also need sufficient space around their seats to be able to turn to a neighbor for discussion time or move around the room for activities.
  • Do we have enough training materials and equipment for everyone? Including the instructor? Make sure enough training materials and equipment are available for the size group you have. Bringing extra copies of safety manuals is a good idea.
  • Is there enough space available for participants to engage in small group exercises and hands-on training? Beyond seating areas, your training may require separate additional space for your participants to gather in small groups. Plan accordingly.
  • Do we have the technical setup needed to make presentations or web-based training more effective? Videos, slide decks and animations can help enhance learning. Make sure the right technology will be available to help get your point across.

The right safety training materials, equipment, facilities and environment do make a difference. Plan ahead so that your presentation and session go smoothly on training day. Attendees will have an easier time staying focused, absorbing important safety information and applying it to how they work.

Managing Additional QSR Risks

Each year, thousands of QSR workers suffer injuries on the job. Burns, cuts, falls, strains and more are all still common, despite workplace safety manuals and flyers. Effective training offers a solution. With great training, you can reduce the number and severity of safety incidents, protecting your team members and your business. Best of all, the principles behind great safety training detailed here can also be applied to other training your business conducts, improving customer service, sales, security and more.

While many QSR business risks can be controlled, not all can. For these risks, proper insurance is key. The Restaurant Supply Chain Solutions Insurance Program is an exclusive insurance program with products to cover your employees, professional reputation, property, financial security and more. It has everything you need to protect your franchise, complemented by best-in-class service.

Whether you have a simple question or need a full policy review, we’re here to help. Visit us online or call (888) 216-9300 to learn more.