Safety Made Simple • 844-8SAFETY • https://www.safetymadesimple.com/
Safety Made Simple’s (SMS) online safety training platform provides a wide range of courses designed specifically for the grain handling industry, such as: grain entrapment/engulfment, entry into grain storage structures, preventing grain dust explosions, grain fumigation safety, truck dump safety, and many more.
According to Content Creation Expert Joe Mlynek, “Our grain- and agronomy-specific safety training was developed with one purpose: to prevent accidents and save lives. SMS is a powerfully simple, effective, no-nonsense approach to accident prevention.
Here is what some users told Grain Journal about the SMS safety training platform:
Kokomo, IN “We started using SMS over a year ago, because we have seven locations spread across Indiana. Being a solo safety director, it was extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get out to do training at all locations. We were in need of uniform training communications for our seven location managers. “We have found value in most of the topics that SMS offers. We train on emergency action planning, confined space entry, bin entry, lockout/tagout, and fall protection, but especially the other OSHA-required topics. These courses are completed by employees at their own pace.
“I am convinced SMS has improved our overall safety by having a uniform message. And it has allowed me to free up time to work on other topics to keep improving our safety culture, along with the overall safety record. In fact, we just surpassed two years without a recordable accident in mid-May. “I really like the fact it’s not just ‘canned topics’ relating to general industry. Rather, it is specifically targeted toward agriculture-related businesses. “I highly suggest looking into SMS if you are only one or two people handling the training for several locations.”
“On June 1, 2018, we rolled out SMS to our CHS Country Operations employees. The decision to partner with SMS was made after a dedicated team of CHS safety professionals researched various online training providers to find the best fit for our employees and company. “SMS has an extensive library of industry-specific courses that are designed to create awareness of workplace hazards and safe work practices. In addition to the SMS content, we have the ability to create and deliver our own custom courses covering topics such as propane, anhydrous ammonia, food safety fundamentals, and defensive driving.
“Our safety leaders are using the SMS platform to assign and track training, as well as develop and deliver custom
content to their locations. Many of our safety leaders also use the SMS courses to supplement their annual refresher training. “From the beginning, we found that Chuck Pirie and the SMS team have been an absolute pleasure to work with. They’re committed to providing excellent customer service. Whether it’s an IT question, a content question, or a request to create a new course, the team is quick to respond with a can-do attitude. We feel that CHS has created a partnership with SMS in an effort to provide quality safety training to our employees that are both engaging and life changing.”
“We began using SMS in February 2017. We do monthly safety training, and then I’ve also assigned some of the food safety courses to our employees, and we do those annually. I set it all up from my regional corporate office. We have approximately 50 different facilities spread throughout five states. Employees will either do the training there at their facility or they can do it at home on their phone or computer or pretty much anywhere. We’re really happy with it. “As far as topics, we look at all of them. We purchased it for the safety aspect, but the bonus there is that it also has the Good Manufacturing Practices and some classes on food safety, which is super helpful. I also lead food safety and quality for Columbia Grain, so I think the courses and topics are very useful to our business. “Since we started using SMS, I can say our safety record – our recordable level – has gone down significantly. There are other factors involved with that, of course, but the facts are there. “I really like the user-friendly aspect of the platform. We have some tech-savvy folks here, but we also have a lot of older folks who aren’t great with computers. I’ve had several comments from many of them who have said, ‘Well, this is really nice and super easy.’ That’s huge. This is just really quick and easy, and the course materials are excellent as well.
“I would definitely recommend the SMS program to other grain companies, especially if they have lots of facilities.
“We began using the SMS training program in December 2016. We chose SMS, because the training methods that we were using previously were not up to our standards. We wanted a higher level of safety. “Now, each of our employees must complete safety training on the SMS platform. Employees take their courses while they’re at work. We have dedicated PCs at every single location
for those trainings to take place. “For us, slips, trips, and falls account for the majority of our accidents, and lockout/tagout is extremely important, as well as confined space training. When you get into the summer months, heat stress is also something we emphasize. There’s such a large diversity of training courses offered on SMS – everything from human resources to operations, transportation, and even some chemical handling. “A benefit of using SMS is that every training course is accompanied by a test afterward. We were surprised to find that many people scored poorly when we first started, meaning our old program was ineffective. It’s definitely raised the bar for us. “What I like best about the SMS program is the amount of documentation that it provides that can be seen on an executive level. They also offer training in Spanish for our employees whose first language is Spanish, so we’re able to reach everybody within our workforce. Most definitely, I would recommend it to anybody in the grain industry.”
“We’ve been using SMS for three years now. Previously, we were just sort of doing training on our own. We had our own safety videos, pulling information from a lot of different sources, and then the testing was done more in a group setting.
“SMS allows us to make sure everybody gets the full training and tests that they have to pass at 80%. If we ever get audited on our training, we will have all of the documentation on the platform. “SMS gives us a lot better safety training, and their courses overall are more aimed at the grain industry than a lot of the other stuff that we used to get from our insurance company, for example, or whatever other sources we could find. “When SMS started, they had more canned programs, but they have worked really hard at developing courses that are more aimed at the operations guy in the grain industry and are more useful for that business than just some the generic training that’s out there. And they’ve added more topics for office personnel to help with that training, and they keep adding to that.
“Every year we have to do a regulatory compliance audit, and a lot of it is just making sure we have things documented how the insurance company wants. Since we started using SMS, our audit scores have continued to go up every year. So, I’d say that we continue to be more and more in compliance with our insurance company, which goes hand-in-hand with OSHA compliance on the state and federal levels.
“What I like about SMS is, you’re not out searching trying to find videos to fit your training needs or having to come up with some training programs on your own. It’s all right there. And then it’s also very easy to supplement if you say, ‘I want to do some additional training or third-party training.’ It fits into the system very easily.”
Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL September/October 2018 Issue
