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Signature Assignment: Planning a Needs Assessment

Jessica Pennington

CUR/528

January 22, 2018

Siddeeqah Johnson
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Signature Assignment: Planning a Needs Assessment

The goal of this needs assessment is to determine through data measurement if the

proposed safety training project would benefit both the new and existing employees at Evans

Building Concepts in that they would be more aware of workplace hazards, more inclined to

communicate hazards, and more capable of mitigating risk through correctly using fall protection

on the jobsite. The needs assessment is necessary to measure and assess existing employees’

knowledge of safety procedures and to determine if they have received sufficient training from

supplementary materials or if a physical safety training is necessary to benefit the company

overall in reducing the risk of injury. The plan seeks to identify current knowledge, stakeholder

perceptions, and future training goals aligned with the standards set by the Occupational Safety

and Health Administration (OSHA).

Satisfying Four Types of Needs

Bradshaw (1972) conceptualized four types of need as normative, felt, expressed, and

comparative. Normative needs are proven by research by professional standards (OSHA

regulations). Felt needs are stated by employees based upon their comfort levels with workplace

safety procedures. Expressed needs are established through supply and demand—safety needs

increase with the increase in workplace incidents. And comparative needs can be identified by

viewing existing work from competitors in the construction field.

Normative Needs

According to information provided on the OSHA website by the Bureau of Labor

Statistics (BLA), falls are the leading cause of death in construction—In fact, in 2015, there were

350 fatal falls to a lower level out of 937 construction fatalities. OSHA believes that proper

training is the key to mitigating risk and creating a safer working environment. Safety
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professionals and members of the OSHA organization have developed a guide to Fall Protection

in Construction, which requires that employers provide fall protection training programs to all

workers who might be exposed to fall hazards. OSHA also requires that employers verify

worker training by preparing a written account of all trainings, including dates of training and

names of those who received instruction. By providing a standard for fall protection training,

this exhibits proof that company-specific planning should be implemented to develop a training

session for new and existing employees of Evans Building Concepts that identifies guidelines

and places procedures for future awareness on the job.

Felt Needs

Felt needs come from the front line of action in the industry: all general construction

laborers, foreman, supervisors, and managers play a key role in expediting and communicating

safety practices. Felt needs, for this proposal, will be measured qualitatively through an interview

with a controlled group of employees who attend weekly meetings in-office on Tuesdays. The

group will consist of the owner of the company, the project manager, two supervisors, and two

construction laborers. The interview will take place confidentially in the office manager’s

holding area; the interviewee will be aware that the results will not directly be shared with the

owner and that their responses will remain anonymous. By providing qualitative responses, the

select group will have the opportunity to express any concerns that they have experienced or felt

in the workplace from the lack of training that the company currently provides.

The results of this assessment will demonstrate any needs that are experienced on the

front lines of operation and may be overlooked by management who is not in direct contact with

the new employees who are being trained. Because the new employees are provided with only

training material, the interviewees will determine whether this approach to safety training is
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sufficient in communicating hazards or if they have been in situations where they were required

to administer impromptu training in fall protection. The responses from the interview will be

transcribed by the office manager, printed, and placed into the proposal binder to be given to the

owner in conjunction with all resources and materials that illustrate the training need.

Expressed Needs

Expressed needs should be measured quantitatively, as the demand for safety training

increases with the increase in workplace incidents and worker’s compensation claims.

According to the National Council on Compensation Insurance, the magnitude of the injury is

inversely related to the seriousness of the injury and results in a high level of indirect costs that

can ultimately create financial destruction in a small business. The chart below demonstrates the

ratio of direct to indirect costs.

Some of the indirect costs associated with workplace injury are as follows:

 Any wages paid to injured workers for absences not covered by workers' compensation;

 The wage costs related to time lost through work stoppage associated with the worker injury;

 The overtime costs necessitated by the injury;

 Administrative time spent by supervisors, safety personnel, and clerical workers post-injury;

 Training costs for a replacement worker;

 Lost productivity related to work rescheduling, new employee learning curves;

 Clean-up, repair, and replacement costs of damaged material, machinery, and property;

 The costs of OSHA fines and any associated legal action;

 Third-party liability and legal costs;

 Worker pain and suffering; and

 Loss of good will from bad publicity.

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“$afety Pays” Cost Chart (OSHA, 2018)

Direct Costs Indirect Cost Ratio

$0 - $2,999 4.5

$3,000 - $4,999 1.6

$5,000 - $9,999 1.2

$10,000 or more 1.1

Comparative Needs

The need for training can also be determined by comparing the safety training programs

in place with competitors in the construction industry. This approach would create comparative

data to measure our company injury statistics and would determine if the training provided by

the competitor proved to reduce the occurrence of injury. Although an interview with a

competing project manager would provide the necessary information, it may not be the best

approach to situation. Because the company operates within a niche market of construction

around a specific region, there are vendors and fellow construction companies that Evans

Building Concepts is in close contact with frequently on the job site. By requesting that the

vendors (they, too, are stakeholders) participate in an anonymous survey, there is a potential to

learn about how the company’s safety policy is perceived from an outside source. In addition to

being objective, vendors may be more likely to provide honest feedback, knowing that the results
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will shape the way that their partners operate in the field—and thus, keeping them safer.

The survey consists of three basic questions relating to the company’s implementation of

fall protection on the jobsite. Although the questions are formatted to illicit a YES, NO, or

UNDECIDED response, there are adequate blanks for the vendors to include relevant

information that they deem necessary. The survey will conclude with space for the participant to

leave contact information if they wish to discuss their responses with the owner. The owner of

the company, or the primary stakeholder, will be receiving the resulting data and will consider

the outside observers as he makes a final decision on this training proposal. The next steps for

the training will be determined by the urgency of the concerns communicated by the felt needs of

the employees and the expressed needs of the vendors.

Post-Training Assessment

As important is developing measures to analyze the need for safety training to create the

needs proposal, post-training assessments also play a crucial role in determining whether training

is necessary to meet the needs of the company. The safety training for all existing employees, as

well as new employees joining the company, would encompass a three-day initiative as part of

the onboarding process. The necessary training materials (OSHA fall protection guides) would

be issued on the date of hire for new employees and would provide all the necessary information

to succeed in fall protection and hazard communication training. The instructional process

would conclude with an authentic assessment facilitated by a company supervisor. The decision

to allow the supervisors to conduct the authentic assessment serves a multi-faceted purpose for

the company—both to ensure that the new employees can follow directions and maintain a safe

work environment and to ensure that the supervisors are capable of informing, evaluating, and

measuring effectiveness in the field. Because the instructor will not be present on the jobsites, it
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is the responsibility of the supervisors to perform daily assessments of their crews to ensure that

work is being completed regarding meeting job timelines, as well as safety guidelines. Because

the construction industry can prevent significant and life-endangering hazards, safety must be the

company’s top priority.

Budget

The needs assessment budget reflects the size of the company and the OSHA

requirements for workplace safety. Because Evans Building Concepts has a relatively small

employee base, the parameters of this research and the development of assessment tools have

spanned outward to include a target population of all stakeholders: from the employees to the

vendors associated with the building process. They will be assessed differently to reflect what

contributions they provide and how their experiences will shape the future of company safety

training. While all resources utilized in the needs assessment development are available through

the OSHA website at no charge, a few costs associated with preparing this needs assessment and

conducting the needs assessment are displayed in the chart below (prepared for training class of

four new employees).

ITEM COST
Safety Resources – OSHA $0
Planning and Research Hours $60
- $15/hr
Supervisor Assessment Hours $60
- $15/hr (1/employee)
Vendor Surveys – Issued $0
Electronically
Paid Interview Time – 10 $15
minutes/employee ($15/hr)
Office supplies – notebooks, $45
pens, printing costs
Fall Protection Equipment – $0
Company Owned
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Total $180

Concluding Thoughts

The needs assessment proposed is intended to research, measure, and interpret a variety

of company needs from a variety of different sources and stakeholders in the company. Because

the training would capitalize on the resources readily available by the company, this low-cost

training initiative could prove to save the company financially by mitigating risks that could lead

to a worker’s compensation claim and save the employees from being involved in hazardous

situations. This plan seeks to identify current knowledge, stakeholder perceptions, and future

training goals aligned with the standards set by the Occupational Safety and Health

Administration (OSHA). By interviewing existing employees about their experiences, surveying

the vendors that the employees encounter daily, and offering a post-training authentic

assessment, the needs of the company, employees, and board of safety professionals can be

satisfied through proper training and assessment.

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Sources

Bradshaw, J. (1972). The concept of social need. Problems and Progress. Oxford University

Press.Oxford,UK.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2018). Background of the Cost Estimates.

Retrieved from https://www.osha.gov/dcsp/smallbusiness/safetypays/background.html