In February and March 2018, the Labour Inspection Authority had carried out 219 audits of industrial enterprises. As a result, 3 out of 4 companies have breached regulations and 4 out of 10 of the companies have not completed training with particularly dangerous work equipment.
About 3000 accidents and injuries are registered annually in manufacturing, according to figures from Statistics Norway. And many of the accidents are caused by machines lacking protection from moving parts or removing protection. The industry is an industry that is overrepresented when it comes to fatal accidents. Since 2000, 90 employees have lost their lives at work in the manufacturing industry. The statistics show that young workers and workers in small enterprises are most at risk of accidents.
A disturbing finding in the audits is that in four out of ten enterprises no training with particularly dangerous work equipment has been carried out.
– The employer shall ensure that all workers receive the training, exercise and instruction they need to carry out the work safely. Proper training helps workers avoid accidents and injuries,” says Trude Vollheim, director of the Labour Inspection Authority, on the Labour Inspection Authority’s website.
Documenting the training for employees in the use of hazardous work equipment requires a good plan, some structured routines and a good tool. Many businesses end up with lists of signings to document the training. Maintenance of the lists often quickly becomes person-dependent and difficult to keep abreast. That doesn’t have to be the case.
The regulations relating to the performance of work require that the employee shall be trained in the use of work equipment that requires special care when using. In 2016 came an additional requirement that the training shall be equipment specific (§10-4). For businesses with lots of equipment and many employees, this can quickly become challenging to keep track of.
What equipment this is all about, the company must decide for itself by mapping equipment and carrying out a risk assessment. The training shall include both theoretical and practical knowledge of the safe use and operation of the equipment, and training shall be given in the specific work equipment the company has. Both the theoretical and the practical training should be documented.
In our system we can do it like this: