Measuring the effectiveness of an industrial lift truck safety training program

A behavior (work) sampling approach was used to both develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an occupational safety training program for industrial lift truck operators. Two studies, each using different experimental designs and performed at two separate warehouses, were conducted, resulting in a total of 96 operators trained. Observations through several months of training program assessment indicated that: (a) occupational safety training, emphasizing modification of operationally defined unsafe work practices derived from task/hazard analysis, can be demonstrated to be effective and to endure beyond cessation of performance feedback; (b) the basis for endurance appears to be continued practice in the modified safe work procedures, coupled with a redefinition of group norms sustained through informal influences such as peer modeling of desired behaviors and continued management support of the program; and (c) a behavior sampling procedure, specifying performancebased criteria, can be used effectively in both the development and evaluation of an occupational-safety training program.