So You’re the New Safety Trainer — Now What?

Training the Safety Trainer:

 What happens when “other duties as assigned” suddenly includes safety training? In this episode of Chamber Amplified from the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, Doug Jenkins talks with Nathan Frasure of Ohio Logistics about what to do when safety lands on your plate — even if it’s not part of your background. Nathan talks about how more employees are being tasked with safety responsibilities, the first steps to take when you’re new to the role, and how to build a culture of trust and accountability on the shop floor. You’ll also learn about the local resources available through the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber’s Safety Council and the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation that can help you train effectively, access grants, and keep your team safe. 

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

0:00:04 - (Doug Jenkins): Hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Chamber Amplified, brought to you by the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. I'm your host, Doug Jenkins. Are you looking for ways to grow your business, maybe navigate new challenges, or just to stay in the loop on what's happening right here in Findlay and Hancock County? If so, you're in the right place. And if not, I don't know, you stumbled upon us somehow. You might as well keep listening.

0:00:27 - (Doug Jenkins): Every week we're talking about issues that matter the most to you. Whether that's attracting great talent, marketing, effectively solving it issues, really anything in between. This week we're talking about safety training. More specifically, about how you train the safety trainer. So a lot of businesses have found themselves in this spot recently. Someone on the team suddenly becomes the safety trainer, even though that wasn't part of their original job description. Unless you count that part at the bottom of every job description that says other duties as assigned.

0:00:55 - (Doug Jenkins): Maybe that's how they fell into it. Either way, you want to make sure that they're set up to succeed. My guest today is Nathan Frazier of Ohio Logistics. He's part of our steering committee for our Safety Council here at the Chamber, and he's seen firsthand how businesses across different industries are adapting to these changing safety needs. We'll get into things like why more employees are finding safety responsibilities added to their role and how to set them up for success.

0:01:19 - (Doug Jenkins): Also, how to build effective training programs, even if you're new to safety management. And we'll talk about resources that are available through the Chamber of Commerce Safety Council to help strengthen your workplace safety culture. And of course, that's a big one. Just having the buy in from your employees can go a long way in success here. So if you've ever had safety land on your plate unexpectedly, or maybe you just want to improve how your team approaches it. Well, this is a great episode for you.

0:01:44 - (Doug Jenkins): Before we get started, if you enjoy Chamber Amplified, please take a moment to leave us a rating and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It really does help more local businesses find the show. Now, let's get into it. Joined on the podcast now by Nathan Frazier of Ohio Logistics as we talk about safety training and safety managers and all things that relate to that. Nathan, thanks for joining us.

0:02:06 - (Nathan Frasure): Thank you for having me.

0:02:08 - (Doug Jenkins): So we've talked about this. You're part of our our steering committee for our Safety Council that we run through the Chamber. One topic that we keep batting back and forth that we want to have as a presentation thought maybe we could start as a podcast is training safety trainers, especially when safety trainers suddenly have that role kind of thrust upon them in a company wide reorganization or what have you.

0:02:31 - (Doug Jenkins): We have a lot of people who come into the role who may not have experience as a safety trainer. Let's first maybe get to the root of. Are you seeing more of that across different industries in our area?

0:02:42 - (Nathan Frasure): Yeah, so definitely. As we've attended the Safety Council, I've had probably three or four people sitting next to me saying, hey, I'm in HR role, but they just gave me safety. I'm the quality manager, but I'm overseeing safety. And I've heard that a lot. Even talking with the team here. They were kind of doing it between OPS and HR going back before they identified, hey, let's bring somebody specific into that role and they were sharing that responsibility to that point. So I've heard it a lot. I've heard the backstories and then they come in like, hey, I'm attending this because of this, you know, to try to get a start on what they're doing.

0:03:14 - (Doug Jenkins): So it would seem that if you don't, if you don't come from a background of safety trading, there are probably a lot of things that are easy to overlook. That one could be detrimental to the safety of your employees, but two could expose you to liability.

0:03:30 - (Nathan Frasure): Yes. Yeah. So, right, Just like any agency that regulates your business, you have reporting that's going to go out. So every February, right, you have to report all your instances. So like in 2026, all of your 2025 information has to make its way to OSHA that you had for recordables. And if you're not aware of those things, right, they start to send you notifications and then maybe, excuse me, they get you, you get a few phone calls from them saying, hey, we're missing this information from you because it's really what drives them into identifying programs within the organization that is osha.

0:04:02 - (Nathan Frasure): So yeah, there's some very serious situations you get yourself into not just from a yearly reporting, but you know, if you have an incident, you know, an unfortunate fatality or catastrophe in the sense that people are getting hospitalized, you have to be able to know that, hey, I can notify OSHA at some point here. I just don't know when that is going to be. So you can really kind of fall behind the eight ball really fast.

0:04:24 - (Nathan Frasure): Not knowing just I would call simple regulations. But without knowing, right, you're not, you don't know what you don't know until that cross those bridges so yeah, definitely some compliance concerns when you just are thrusted those, those roles.

0:04:40 - (Doug Jenkins): So let's start from the beginning. Let's say I'm someone who got put into all of a sudden the all safety training and everything that goes along with that in my business suddenly falls under me. I don't have any training for that. It was just a role that was given to me. What is your first piece of advice for that person?

0:04:59 - (Nathan Frasure): First I would say identify what, where do I lie within osha, right, I know osha, you've been around the workforce, you're like, I have something to do with osha. So I would say start with what industry are you in? Are you going to view in general industry? So the 1910 section, if you look up OSHA, am I going to be in construction? Am I going to be a public employer? Am I have to go look at perp which is their OSHA for public employee corporations and businesses.

0:05:23 - (Nathan Frasure): So first, understand what industry you are in. Second, what is it your business does? What is our scope? You know, in my scope, you know, we're, we're a warehouse logistics company. So understand what that scope is, what are we doing? Because that's really probably going to help you identify where's my next step as I go, I've identified what industry I'm in. I know what the means to the end is as far as what products we're doing or what services we provide.

0:05:48 - (Nathan Frasure): So it allows me to go, okay, now where do I go to the floor, right? And that's where you're going to learn. And I always tell people, because we have a safety observation piece to our program, you start with just making observations and that could be done multiple ways depending on your understanding of your business. You could go, okay, I know that we have injuries in section A of this, this facility, maybe I go observe that. But I always tell people to slice the pie. Don't go. Try to observe everything at once.

0:06:17 - (Nathan Frasure): Find some good team members. You know, start with your main core, your business leaders, your maintenance lead would be a great resource probably for you, your quality manager, your production leads and things like that going, I need a team to help me educate what you guys do day to day and then talk me through your processes because that's really where we start. A lot of the entry level techs, safety techs as well is go to the floor, work the floor, understand what they're doing there and then we can kind of, we can come back and start to look up how does OSHA start to read into, start to Go into what we do on here on the floor. So, you know, case in point, I'm a production manufacturing company. I have a lot of machines on my floor.

0:06:58 - (Nathan Frasure): Well, if we know anything, there's a lot of, a lot of industrial issues around or injuries due to machines. So I'm probably going to have a section within osha. So once you identify what I do, what are we doing as a company, what are my biggest concerns? You can start to go where sections apply to me and then start to create based on what you've observed and what you found through assets that you guys control on your floor, what training, what is our standard, so we can start to get into those next steps of how do I develop my safety program from there.

0:07:31 - (Doug Jenkins): And I think it's also important for businesses to realize if we're talking, you know, kind of industrial and manufacturing and warehousing and that's. But really, no matter how small the business, if you have an one employee, you are responsible to their safety to some degree. So you need to have some sort of safety plan in place. So even if you don't have a lot of machines like that, there are regulations that you're going to have to follow.

0:07:56 - (Nathan Frasure): Yeah. So when you talk about just basic, and this is the understanding, I try to get people that just come in and maybe it's their first day of the work and they're starting to take, maybe they're an outside person coming in into a lead role. Just understand that according to osha, right, they have a general duty clause. And us as employers to our people that we lead, have a general duty to keep the workplace free of hazards. And that was where a lot of, a lot of it starts there. Because people are like, well, how does this fit in osha?

0:08:26 - (Nathan Frasure): It doesn't really matter if you just identify as a hazard. Just understand the general duty clause says, hey, we have to do something about this at this point, whether it's a machine, whether it's a forklift, whether it's a. Your floor is, you know, got stuff all over your floor, things like that. You just know it's a hazard. You'd have identified that there's a risk tied to that hazard. You have a general duty to your people now to fix that.

0:08:47 - (Nathan Frasure): And then again, you can get into the subsections. But highlighting those things and making those observations and walking the floor, keeping that little speck of information in your mind should help guide you understanding, hey, where are my biggest opportunities to help this team be safe? Every day they come into work, I.

0:09:02 - (Doug Jenkins): Think speaking of opportunities. One thing that someone who's new to the position, who hasn't come in from that safety field, may not realize is the amount of resources that are available to them. You've mentioned OSHA and they have a wide availability of resources. Because I think OSHA would rather work with a company to be safe than come in and find them if they aren't safe. And then also we work with the Bureau of Workers Compensation through Safety Council.

0:09:26 - (Doug Jenkins): And I know sometimes people might balk it. Oh, man. It's a government agency. Yay. But our local representation, I would be happy to connect anybody with Doug Capel. Doug is beyond great to work with. Mona before him was great to work with. So we're really fortunate here, at least in northwest Ohio, to have people who, they're not obstructionary. They want to connect you with the resources and are actually very good at connecting you with either training resources or the people that you need to talk to.

0:09:54 - (Nathan Frasure): Yeah, yeah. Like Doug will tell you, not only are they going to kind of be able to come over and help you, like he's an agist, so he can come in and tell you, hey, how is your, how are your employees or your associates or your team members hurting themselves day to day, he's going to give you that information. He's also probably going to lead you into the BWC grant to help you understand, hey, you don't have to always completely foot the bill when it comes to updating your work environment.

0:10:17 - (Nathan Frasure): Here's some opportunities or will work on you and how, how to apply for those grants, help you understand what the spend ratio is on those grants and then help you get this equipment that you need in place to make sure that every day you know, you're making improvements because that's the biggest win. And I think Doug would say that. And anybody from OSHA is, I've talked to those, the regional managers from all areas of Ohio. They're really trying to turn the page on what was 20 years ago, OSHA, where everybody was like, hey, it's just the police, they're going to do X, Y and Z.

0:10:45 - (Nathan Frasure): If you reach out with some questions, they will answer those questions. You know, you really got to understand what department you're calling because they have certain, just like BWC does, they have certain divisions that handle certain questions. So you need to see them as a, as a team player in this because they could help you as well. Just because my, my background is law enforcement, you know, I don't see them where some people may see them as just, hey, this governing body, I just see them as somebody, a resource for me to go into and get some information. Especially since they're the subject matters experts, they're the one that help Doug do his job as well as my job day to day. So those are great opportunities, great resources. Doug has a ton of team members that they could use, not just himself, but I know they have some people that will do some hearing samples for you, some IH testing. So industrial hygiene. They have a lot of resources that they could dive into for you. And you're not just out there by yourself because it does become very siloed when you get this opportunity and you're kind of thrust into a safety position.

0:11:42 - (Nathan Frasure): Day to day people see you as safety and depending on how you got to go about your day to day, you can kind of get a bad turn on everything or you know, as you, if you become the people, use them as a resource, you create a bigger team and then as you bring other people in, they become part of your team and you get a little bit more done. Especially even if you think you've got it, you need to understand the resources because sometimes you can get tunnel vision yourself and your journey through safety and bringing somebody like Doug in can really open your eyes. Like, hey, I'm not seeing that because I'm so focused on X, Y and Z over here that missing this. So not just from a short term or just entry level, but even as you go through your journey, they're a great resource to go, hey, can you come just walk to my facility? Am I missing something?

0:12:24 - (Nathan Frasure): How do my programs look and things like that?

0:12:25 - (Doug Jenkins): Yeah, being proactive is great. Also you mentioned the, the BWC grants and we won't get into that here because that's more for them to talk about and they know all the ins and outs of it. But I have to imagine you get moved into safety and all of a sudden you go to your boss and say, hey, I found us some money for this new piece of equipment because, because it's going to make our employees safer. Guess who's the hero?

0:12:44 - (Doug Jenkins): You are for finding that money. So that's helpful. Also talked a little bit about just that, continuing education. As we've mentioned, you're part of the safety council steering committee here through the Finley Hancock County Chamber that we help administer for the bwc. Just going to those council meetings, I think once a month is a great way to get started. Might get you thinking about a few different things. We always have the presentation from the Bureau of Workers Compensation but then several Other topics that can be helpful.

0:13:13 - (Nathan Frasure): Yeah, like the last two have been really great, really good. We had the fire department come out, talk you through fire safety, which is a big component when you talk work environment, what is my sprinkler system? What is that expectation of me? And he really talked a lot about what those regulations were where you, if you were in that group at that meeting, we sent you the information like you do every week after the couple of days within the meeting being over.

0:13:36 - (Nathan Frasure): That's regulations. You go back, you don't have to look that information up. We got somebody going to present that information. We had the group. I can't, I apologize. I can't remember the group that did the confined space. They went through fall protection, they went through confined spaces. So here are some big programs that are huge radars in the eyes of OSHA that, hey, if they're going to come knock on your door, these are maybe your bigger programs that they're going to take a look at. Especially if they know that, you know, if you have a big press room and there's, you know, an underbody to the, to that press room, there's confined spaces. They're going to want to know what your program looks like because that's very high risk programs right there. And then fire, just fire protection overall.

0:14:10 - (Nathan Frasure): We've had mental health over the, over the last year. A lot of good programs that, you know, you may forget and miss and hear people presenting you the regulations right for you and resources that they could come on and help you with this thing as I think his name is Steve Wilkes, with the fire department saying, hey, we can come train your people with fire extinguishers. And so it's not only just education, but here are additional resources that you guys can get yourself. So it's been very educational even for somebody that's in the field, gone through some of the programs. You do forget once in a while some of these regulations. And to have that refresher wherever you're at in your journey, entry point or further along, it's nice to have those resources because some of this stuff has been new, right. As safety has continued to be highlighted and viewed as more of an asset over the last 20, 20, 30 years, where it was, you know, in the 80s and 70s and things like that, a lot of new programs have kicked up and a lot of new businesses are getting behind this and you see like that can find space with the trailer exercise that they did in the parking lot with us. It was very co to see that happen and have Them talk you through how they can train your team to that.

0:15:13 - (Doug Jenkins): Yeah, that was the All Hazards Trading center that, that did that for us. Before we get out, I do want to offer some practical advice. You said something that got me to thinking about, you know, you're walking around on the plant boards. Sometimes the relation between safety and, you know, what's happening on the floor or whatever can be a little contentious, especially depending on, you know, what you're walking into when you, when you first take over the role.

0:15:36 - (Doug Jenkins): Safety is a culture. We've talked about it number a number of times at Safety council meetings. What would you recommend as some first steps to like turning the tide on? If you just have a group or you have some employees who just, I don't care, I don't want to wear my helmet, whatever the care, I don't want to wear my ear protection or eye protection, things like that. How do you help turn the tide against that to start things swinging things in a way that are going to be more beneficial for everybody?

0:16:06 - (Nathan Frasure): It's, it's really as simple as rolling up your sleeves and getting into the work with them. Not just going out there and observing, but rolling up your sleeves saying, hey, put me in a day in the life of what you go through. Help me understand how I can make your job safer. Because a lot of people, they have a lot of eight hours, 12 hours, depending on where you're at. They have a lot of time to think about how can I do my job better, more efficient if I just had X tool in my hand.

0:16:27 - (Nathan Frasure): And that's an opportunity for, to build trust because there's a lot of low hanging fruit. No matter how advanced you get in your safety journey, there's always still going to be low hanging fruit. And that's really where you gain the trust of your people. The small changes in their day to day. If you can help them make those small changes, they're going to be so appreciative and then you just highlight those things where they, they presented you a good idea. You take that and you share that and you amplify that like we're doing here with the Safety Council.

0:16:50 - (Nathan Frasure): You amplify that into a safety committee call, you amplify that into safety talk that you have for the week. You, it's, it sounds, I always tell people, you know, it's the workplace and people always kind of play it off. Like getting congratulated for doing something safe is so small. But at the end of the day it does pick people's day up because you don't hear good words all the time. We're very. I think I'd sit through a class where, you know, the negative quick, we pick up quicker on the negative than we do the positive. So to present somebody with a positive that they generated an idea that they improve, not just maybe their opportunity or their workplace or their workstation, you got to take that idea and spread it across the floor. It's going to help them and they will appreciate it in the long run. And I think that's where it starts. Roll up the sleeves, put your boots on the ground because it really does take community. And if you get buy in from your team and create that culture where that culture believes they have a voice, even if it's my day one, I believe I have a voice, you're going to get a ton of buy in and your safety culture dramatically changes. And it's definitely a journey, it's never a sprint. And people have to understand it takes consistency over a long time period. So it's not something you're going to see in 24 hours, three months, it may take you six months. Depending on where your numbers are at, it may take you a year. But you got to understand the consistency and getting the buy in and working with the people, you'll get there quicker than trying to do it all by yourself.

0:18:05 - (Doug Jenkins): I'll certainly. If people listening to this have questions about ways to get used to their position or different ways they can apply their position to make sure people are safe on the job, we'd love to have you at Safety Council. Those are the first Thursday of every month at the Hilton Garden Inn. You can register on the Chamber website. But Nathan, if some of them just want to talk to you, maybe sit down one on one just to talk a little bit about some of the things we've discussed here today, what would be the best way to do that?

0:18:32 - (Nathan Frasure): You can reach out? I'm at Ohio Logistics. I've been here for three years. I had you can get me call, look at Ohio Logistics, ask for Nate the safety guy. They'll push it that way. You've kind of seen some of those names get flashed out there too. But I'm available. I'm at the Safety Council meetings every Thursday myself. I may miss November because I'll be in Florida this, this coming month, but I'm always usually there.

0:18:54 - (Nathan Frasure): But if not, you can reach out. I will give my information to you. You can share that with the, the, this information here, but just to give it. If they slow it down. My email is at nate n frazierlogistics.com and then they email me or if they have any other questions they can look up again apologistics phone number and somebody will get them in touch with me. I can, I love to talk about it, whatever they need like to be a resource because I know it know sometimes it gets frustrating. And if you can help people not have to reinvent the wheel as they get onto their safety journey, it's definitely a benefit for me to share the knowledge that somebody gave me, you know, some time ago.

0:19:30 - (Doug Jenkins): Well, some people have heard of Bob the Builder. We have Nate the safety Guy. Nathan, thanks for joining us on the podcast.

0:19:37 - (Nathan Frasure): Thank you. I appreciate it.

0:19:39 - (Doug Jenkins): Just a few takeaways from today's episode. Again, many businesses are dealing with this right now, where we're seeing more employees step into safety roles for the first time. So investing in their training really pays off for everyone. You make sure your employees are safe, you cover yourself. There's just a lot of different ways that you want to look at that. Even without a long background in safety, new trainers can be very successful by starting with communication, observation and consistency. I think Nathan really dropped, drove that point home. Definitely one that you want to take away from this episode.

0:20:08 - (Doug Jenkins): And always remember that our Safety Council offers a network of resources. There's different people to talk to, a lot of different programs and support for anybody who is responsible for safety in the workplace. It's definitely worth looking into. I'd be happy to connect you with it. And that'll wrap up this episode of the podcast. Chamber Amplified is a free resource from the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, made possible by the support of our members.

0:20:31 - (Doug Jenkins): Their investment drives everything we do, whether that's business advocacy and leadership programs to providing you with timely local information. And if you want to strengthen the community and grow your business, well, we'd love to talk about how you can do that. Let me know that you're interested and we'll talk about how an investment in the Chamber not only benefits your business, but benefits the community as a whole.

0:20:51 - (Doug Jenkins): And if you have a great idea for a future episode, let me know. Send me an email@djenkinsindley hancock chamber.com that'll do it for this edition. Thanks for listening and don't miss the next episode of Chamber Amplified.