Author: Alex Bell

Top OSHA violations: the 10 Most Frequently Cited in 2019

Keep your workplace safe by knowing and avoiding the top OSHA violations for 2017

 

Editor’s Note: Top violations listed updated for 2019.

Late last year the list of top OSHA violations for 2018 was released at the National Safety Council’s annual Congress & Expo.

The list comprises the most frequently cited violations observed by OSHA’s inspectors during Fiscal Year 2018.

The list remained largely unchanged from 2016 and 2017 reports, so while we’re still a few months away from the latest report to be issued during this year’s NSC Congress, managers can expect these issues to largely remain a priority this year.

Here’s the full list including the number of violations for each:

  1. Fall Protection – General Requirements (1926.501):  7,216 violations
  2. Hazard Communication (1910.1200): 4,537
  3. Scaffolding (1926.451): 3,319
  4. Respiratory Protection (1910.134): 3,112
  5. Lockout/Tagout (1910.147): 2,923
  6. Ladders (1926.1053): 2,780
  7. Powered Industrial Trucks (1910.178): 2,281
  8. Fall Protection – Training Requirements (1926.503): 1,978
  9. Machine Guarding (1910.212): 1,969
  10. Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection (1926.102): 1,528

As Patrick Kapust, deputy director of OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs, said during his 2017 presentation:

“One thing I’ve said before in the past on this is, this list doesn’t change too much from year to year. These things are readily fixable. I encourage folks to use this list and look at your own workplace.”

In that same spirit, here are the top 10 OSHA violations you should know about to make your workplace safer for all employees.

Top OSHA Violations #1: Fall Protection – General Requirements

The Fall Protection section sets forth requirements for employers to provide fall protection systems.

According to OSHA:

“The employer shall determine if the walking/working surfaces on which its employees are to work have the strength and structural integrity to support employees safely. Employees shall be allowed to work on those surfaces only when the surfaces have the requisite strength and structural integrity.”

Make sure you provide your employees with proper fall protection gear every time they’re working at unsafe heights.

Top OSHA Violations #2: Hazard Communication

The Hazard Communication section attempts to “ensure that the hazards of all chemicals produced or imported are classified, and that information concerning the classified hazards is transmitted to employers and employees,” according to OSHA.

OSHA designed their requirements to match those of the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).

OSHA suggests that you create “comprehensive hazard communication programs, which are to include container labeling and other forms of warning, safety data sheets and employee training.”

Top OSHA Violations #3: Scaffolding

The Scaffolding section outlines how a scaffold ought to be constructed for optimal safety.

For example, part 1926.451(a)(1) says “each scaffold and scaffold component shall be capable of supporting, without failure, its own weight and at least 4 times the maximum intended load applied or transmitted to it.”

Top OSHA Violations #4: Respiratory Protection

The Respiratory Protection section involves the “control of those occupational diseases caused by breathing air contaminated with harmful dusts, fogs, fumes, mists, gases, smokes, sprays, or vapors, the primary objective shall be to prevent atmospheric contamination,” according to OSHA.

It applies to general industry, shipyards, marine terminals, longshoring, and construction.

You’re required to provide appropriate environmental controls (like ventilation systems) and/or effective respiratory protection devices (like respirators) when your employees are working around hazardous airborne pathogens.

Top OSHA Violations #5: Lockout/Tagout

The Lockout/Tagout section covers the servicing and maintenance of machines and equipment in which the unexpected energization or start up of the machines or equipment, or release of stored energy, could harm employees,” according to OSHA.

Your role in protecting employees here is to train them to shut down machines properly, or quickly shut down a machine if it starts up accidentally. You should also conduct periodic inspections of equipment to ensure everything is in working order.

Top OSHA Violations #6: Ladders

The Ladders section outlines requirements for all ladders, including job-made ladders.

For example, part 1926.1053(a)(1)(i) says that each self-supporting portable ladder must sustain “at least four times the maximum intended load, except that each extra-heavy-duty type 1A metal or plastic ladder shall sustain at least 3.3 times the maximum intended load. The ability of a ladder to sustain the loads indicated in this paragraph shall be determined by applying or transmitting the requisite load to the ladder in a downward vertical direction.”

Top OSHA Violations #7: Powered Industrial Trucks

The Powered Industrial Trucks section “contains safety requirements relating to fire protection, design, maintenance, and use of fork trucks, tractors, platform lift trucks, motorized hand trucks, and other specialized industrial trucks powered by electric motors or internal combustion engines.”

Any trucks that you use that are designated in this section must adhere to the standards laid out in the American National Standard for Powered Industrial Trucks, Part II, ANSI B56.1-1969.

Top OSHA Violations #8: Fall Protection – Training Requirements

The Fall Protection – Training Requirements section requires employers to “provide a training program for each employee who might be exposed to fall hazards,” according to OSHA.

Your role is to help all of your employees understand the hazards of falling and train each of them in the procedures outlined in this section to minimize the danger of falling.

Top OSHA Violations #9: Machine Guarding

The Machine Guarding section details these requirements:

“One or more methods of machine guarding shall be provided to protect the operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards such as those created by point of operation, ingoing nip points, rotating parts, flying chips and sparks. Examples of guarding methods are-barrier guards, two-hand tripping devices, electronic safety devices, etc.”

Your job is to protect your employees from injuring themselves by guarding all unsafe and dangerous objects, machines, or points in your workplace.

Top OSHA Violations #10: Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment – Eye and Face Protection 

These standards address personal protective equipment for workers exposed to face and eye hazards including chemical gases, vapors, and flying particles.

The top section cited (accounting for 1,474 violations) was 1926.102(a)(1), which reads:

“The employer shall ensure that each affected employee uses appropriate eye or face protection when exposed to eye or face hazards from flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially injurious light radiation.”

How to Comply with the Top OSHA Violations

If you want your agency to comply with OSHA’s requirements and not violate any of their mandates, then you’re going to need top-of-the-line training from an organization that specializes in Government Elearning.

You can use our safety health programs to quickly and effectively train your employees to adhere to OSHA’s standards.

From fall protection to hazard communication, we have all the courses you need to stay compliant and keep your workplace safe.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

Schedule Free Consultation

 

Adult Learning Theory and eLearning: Why and How to Educate Yourself Best

Remember what famous rockstar Alice Cooper told us?

“Schoooooooool’s out! Forever!”

He was right…sort of.

While traditional school may be over for you, the thing you did in school – learning – probably isn’t.

Like most working adults, you may have decided to continue your education.

Or, perhaps you haven’t yet and know that you should.

Well, in today’s post we’ll go over why adults continue learning (adult learning theory), how adults effectively learn, and the #1 method for learning every adult can benefit from.

So first up, the reason for continuing education.

Why Adults Continue Learning

There are many reasons why adults decide to seriously learn new subjects and skills long after graduation.

We list the 3 most common reasons below.

To Advance Their Career

Probably the biggest reason adults undertake learning initiatives is to move up the ladder in the organization they work for.

This is especially true if you work in a culture of continuous learning.

The fact is, ongoing education makes you more valuable as an employee. You will inevitably know more than your peers, be able to do more than them, and be able to take on the greater responsibilities that come with a promotion and raise.

Of course, expanding your education also makes you more marketable.

Consider licenses or certifications like the CISSP certification. That goes a long way in helping you find a better job or get the accreditation you require to move up in your agency.

To Keep Their Minds Active

Beyond career goals, many adults decide to further their education in order to keep their minds active and healthy.

According to the Association for Psychological Science:

“New research indicates that only certain activities — learning a mentally demanding skill like photography, for instance — are likely to improve cognitive functioning.”

A psychological scientist and the lead researcher Denise Park of the University of Texas at Dallas goes on to say that:

“It seems it is not enough just to get out and do something—it is important to get out and do something that is unfamiliar and mentally challenging, and that provides broad stimulation mentally and socially. When you are inside your comfort zone you may be outside of the enhancement zone.”

Learning new skills, even in the work environment, will provide the stimulation needed to keep your mind healthy.

To Earn a Degree

For some people, they need to continue learning to get the degree they never got, and may need.

This may for career advancement, but it may also be personal.

More often than not, we learn things for reasons that have nothing to do with making money or advancing our careers. Rather, many people continue learning to prove to themselves that they can do it. To feel a sense of personal achievement and to receive the honor of that achievement, like a degree from a good university.

Whatever the reason, it’s never too late to continue learning, which is what we cover in the next section.

How Adults Learn (Adult Learning Theory)

What regular people call adult education, famed American educator Malcolm Shepherd Knowles called Andragogy – a synonym that basically means the art, science, and theory of adult learning.

Knowles became famous for penning his “5 assumptions of Adult Learners”:

  1. Self-concept – While children have a dependent concept of self, adults see themselves as self-direction.
  2. Adult learner experience – The more an adult has learned, the more knowledge an understanding they can bring to the next subject.
  3. Readiness to learn – An adult’s readiness to learn is more dependent on their social roles than on their physiological development, like it is in children.
  4. Orientation to learning – Adults orient themselves around learning in terms of immediate application.
  5. Motivation to learn – The most powerful motivator to learn comes from within for adults, while external motivators like a promotion or a raise also play a role.

These 5 assumptions tell you how adults should approach learning, but not the methods for learning itself.

That’s what we touch on in the next section.

Why eLearning is the Best Option for Adult Learning

Adults can use books, videos, in-person trainers, lived experience, and a host of other ways to actually take information into their brains and learn it.

But the #1 way…

The way that matches Knowles’ 5 assumptions of adult learners…

Is eLearning.

It allows adults to learn in short bursts on their own, called microlearning.

It’s more effective than other forms of learning.

And it’s one of the cheapest options out there.

If you need to implement an adult learning platform in your agency that covers every topic under the sun from IT to project management, then get your free trial of Enterprise Training below!

 

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!Schedule Free Consultation

Why Soft Skills Training Matters (And How to Give It to Your Employees)

When managers think of training, they often think of hard skills. Technical skills.

The skills that “get the job done.”

And those skills are very important.

But there’s a range of skills that matter just as much, or as we’ll show you later, matter more than hard skills.

And those are soft skills.

The kind of skills that have to do with the way you think, the way you behave, and how you interact with other people.

Which leads to the natural question:

Why Do Soft Skills Matter?

West Monroe set out to answer that same question by surveying 1,250 individuals across two surveys made up of 600 HR and recruiting professionals and 650 full-time employees who regularly work with their company’s technology teams.

Here’s what they found:

  • 98% of HR leaders say soft skills are important in landing a technology position. In fact, they think they’re so important that 67% say they didn’t hire technically qualified candidates because they lacked soft skills.
  • Verbal communication and collaboration were ranked as the most important soft skills.
  • Once hired, most companies don’t invest in developing their technology professionals’ soft skills. Nearly one-quarter of companies provide soft skills training to line-of-business employees, but not to IT.
  • HR leaders consider leadership to be the least important soft skill for prospective technology hires.
  • Technology employees often don’t ascend the career ladder, with 39% of companies lacking a technology background in the c-suite.
  • 43% of full-time employees say soft-skills-related challenges with IT have negatively impacted their work.
  • Collaboration-based issues have delayed or prolonged a project for 71% of respondents. One-third of employees have missed a deadline altogether because of communication issues.

It should be clear now why soft skills are important. But before you can start training your employees in these skills, you need to know what skills to train them in.

What are Some of the Top Soft Skills?

LinkedIn recently surveyed 291 hiring managers in the U.S. and the majority of them (59%) believed that soft skills were difficult to find.

So they “analyzed the soft skills listed on the profiles of members who job-hopped (defined as a member changing their employer on their LinkedIn profile) between June 2014 and June 2015 to identify the most sought-after soft skills among employers.”

According to the results of their findings, the most in-demand soft skills are:

  1. Communication
  2. Organization
  3. Teamwork
  4. Punctuality
  5. Critical thinking
  6. Sociability
  7. Creativity
  8. Interpersonal communication
  9. Adaptability
  10. Friendly personality

And these were the least in-demand soft skills:

  • Business planning
  • Cross-functional team leadership
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Team building
  • Coaching
  • Management
  • Analysis
  • Team management
  • Resume writing
  • Business

A study coming from Google confirms some of these skills.

In 2013, Google wanted to understand what qualities their top employees all possessed.

Shockingly, STEM expertise came in last.

The other seven characteristics were:

  • Being a good coach
  • Communicating and listening well
  • Possessing insights into others (including their different values and points of view)
  • Having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues
  • Being a good critical thinker
  • Being a problem solver
  • And being able to make connections across complex ideas.

So there is without a doubt a very high need for soft skills and not enough employees have them.

The question is…

How Do You Conduct Soft Skills Training?

By giving them the ability to learn soft skills at their own pace at work, home, their commute or anywhere else.

Soft skills take time to learn and practice.

It’s not the same as hard skills where you can memorize a fact or process and put it into action.

Soft skills need to be refined. You need feedback from your peers as you try new communication methods, new ways to think about problems, different ways to engage and lead people.

You need a training platform that’s flexible and can be used on-demand.

Like Enterprise Training.

And if you try out Enterprise Training for 14 days free, you can gain immediate access to our top soft skills training course:

Smart Leadership, parts 1-6.

Along with hundreds of other leadership and professional development courses.

If improving soft skills is a goal for your organization, start your free trial of Enterprise Training today.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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How the National Safety Council is Reducing Workplace Deaths

Workplace deaths are traumatizing.

For both the agency and the worker’s family.

Those wounds take a long time to heal.

That’s why a commitment to workplace safety, injury reduction, and smarter technology is the way forward if you hope to protect your employees.

The National Safety Council (NSC) recently announced their plans for creating safer workplaces, and we cover their initiative later in this article.

But before we see the solution, let’s examine the problem.

Below we’ll take a look at fatal workplace injury statistics so you understand the gravity of the situation workers and workplaces are facing.

Workplace Deaths Statistics

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were a total of 5,147 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2017, down slightly from the 5,190.

Transportation issues were the leading cause of workplace fatalities, accounting for 40% of workplace fatalities, totaling 2,077 deaths.

The second-leading cause of death were fatal falls, totaling 887.

But as bad as these are, we do have good news.

The Silver Lining in Workplace Fatal Injuries

While those statistics prove that there is a lot of work still to do to protect workers and continually reduce workplace deaths, there is a silver lining.

The number of workers dying from fatal injuries as part of their job has been radically reduced.

According to data collected by various sources and presented by the CDC:

  • The National Safety Council (NSC) estimates that in 1912, between 18,000 and 21,000 workers died from work-related injuries.
  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 1913, found that approximately 23,000 workers died in the industrial industry at a time when the workforce was made up of 38 million people. That means there were 61 deaths per 100,000 workers.

However…

  • According to a different report from the National Safety Council, between 1933 and 1997, deaths from “unintentional” work-related injuries declined by 90%, from 37 per 100,000 workers dying to 4 per 100,000.

That’s incredible.

What’s more, the actual number of deaths decreased from 14,500 to 5,100. And while this was happening, the workforce tripled from 39 million to 130 million.

What made the difference?

The National Safety Council would say it’s a mix of various organizations such as unions, government agencies, and advocacy groups.

But they would go on to say that another big factor is technology.

Which is why they’ve launched Work to Zero.

What is Work to Zero and How Will They Reduce Workplace Deaths?

The NSC recently received a $500,000 grant from the McElhattan Foundation to launch Work to Zero 2050, an initiative to “eliminate death on the job by the year 2050.”

Their goal is to not stop until all fatalities have been “eradicated.”

How do they plan on achieving this ambitious goal?

By accelerating the development of essential technologies and training programs, and piloting and evaluating them for efficacy.

These technologies include:

  • Wearables
  • Robotics
  • Virtual and augmented reality
  • Automation and artificial intelligence

Plus much more.

The plan for the future is for Work to Zero 2050 will accumulate and execute actionable knowledge needed to implement the best technology for saving lives.

What You Can Do Now to Improve Workplace Safety and Decrease Workplace Deaths

The NSC has a lot of work to do and it’s going to benefit your organization or agency in big ways.

But you don’t need to wait until 2050 to put better workplace standards into place.

You can start today using our flagship Workplace Safety course.

It will show you:

  • The chief responsibilities for agency heads under OSHA.
  • The responsibilities federal employees have relative to workplace safety in a given scenario.
  • The kind of safety and health training various types of employees should receive.

And much more.

Get the Workplace Safety course as part of your free trial of Enterprise Training below.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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7 Digital Learner Preferences to Know in 2019

Digital learner preferences
Digital learner preferences vary between each individual and across different organizations and agencies.

 

What are the digital learning preferences of your employees?

If you don’t know, your employees may secretly hate learning, or worse, they aren’t absorbing what you teach them – leading to constant retraining, poor performance, and bad customer service.

All of which can be reversed when you do know about digital learner preferences.

And the Digital Learning Consortium is here to show you just what they are.

They recently released a survey titled Voice of the Learner conducted during the spring and summer of 2018 that gathered responses from 5,000 learners spanning 5 generations from 114 countries in 15 professions.

So you know they found some good stuff.

We’re going to detail the major takeaways from this study below to show you how to design digital learning programs that your employees look forward to taking.

7 Digital Learner Preferences

1. A.I. Without Privacy Violations

Most respondents said they would use A.I.

They recognize the benefits of A.I., such as automatically identifying skill gaps and recommending learning activities to fill the gaps.

There’s just one sticking point:

Privacy.

Many respondents said they were worried about how their managers would use information collected using A.I. They’re afraid it may be used against them when being given assignments or during performance evaluations.

Keep this in mind if you decide to implement A.I. and attempt to keep things as transparent and voluntary as possible.

2. Learning Records That Are Controlled by Individual Learners

The majority of survey respondents (over two-thirds) want learning records that follow them throughout their career, enabling them to view and share their progress with anyone.

But once again, the issue of privacy crops up.

These same employees want to be in complete control over their records instead of giving control to a 3rd-party. Essentially, they would act like “supercharged resumes or LinkedIn profiles” that were kept secure by the learner themselves.

3. Online Courses and Digital Reading over Video

While online courses had the highest mean importance, respondents spent the most time each week (1.6 hours) on digital reading, both overtaking video in importance and time spent.

It seems respondents didn’t enjoy audio or webcasting.

4. Learning Alone

Another surprising finding from this study is that 58% of respondents said they prefer learning alone rather than in groups (when engaged in a Massive Open Online Course environment).

At the same time, 70% of respondents agreed that peer-to-peer interactions enhance the learning experience. But if they form learning groups, most of them preferred group sizes of 3-6 instead of large group sessions.

5. Longer Learning Sessions over Microlearning

As if this report didn’t feature enough shocking information, it turns out that most people don’t prefer microlearning.

Here’s how the numbers broke down:

  • 51% prefer 20-45 minute learning sessions.
  • 24% prefer 1-2 hour long learning sessions.
  • 9% prefer 5-10 minute learning sessions.

This tells us that a mix of learning experiences would be best, allowing individual employees to tailor the learning experience to their preferences.

6. A Clear Link Between Learning and Their Career

Now, this next point should come as no surprise:

Over 70% of respondents are more motivated to learn when they see a clear link between what they’re learning and how it furthers their career.

If you can create a culture of continuous learning that rewards intelligent and competent employees with raises, promotions, perks, rewards, etc., then you’re employees will gladly engage in your learning programs.

7. Centralized Learning Hub

78% of respondents prefer a centralized learning hub where they can access all of their training from anywhere.

They don’t care much about seeing the speaker or in virtual reality, but they do care about having personalized recommendations and an organized knowledge database they can use at will.

The Next Step in Meeting Digital Learner Preferences

Now you know what your employees want from your learning initiative.

The next step is to give it to them.

But you don’t want to provide it haphazardly – one program for this and another for that.

Like the last point in our list above, you want to give your employees a central hub of information they can access while in the office, on a train home, or in their bedroom.

You have to make learning easy for them.

And it should include courses, reading material, and videos to cater to all different needs and learning preferences.

Where can you find all of this in one package?

Right here at Enterprise Training.

We have over 6,000 online government training courses covering everything from cybersecurity to project management.

If you need a one-stop-shop for your employees’ learning needs, then try a 14-day free trial of Enterprise Training today by clicking the button below.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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The Top 5 Cybersecurity Threats to Schools (And How You Combat Them)

 

Cybersecurity threats hacked code
Cybersecurity threats in schools are growing and demand immediate attention to protect everyone’s sensitive information.

Since January of 2016, there have been 418 cybersecurity Incidents (and counting) in K-12 schools across the United States.

That number will continue climbing if schools don’t tighten their IT security.

But why are hackers targeting schools?

Well, according to Mary Kavaney, the chief operating officer of the Global Cyber Alliance, “school environments often don’t have a lot of technology resources dedicated to security, but have some of the richest personal information on people, including social security numbers, birth dates, and, potentially, medical and financial information.”

She went on to say, “If bad actors can access student [personal data], that information can be exploited for the purpose of fraud and committing crimes for years before it is detected. It’s often only upon application for a job, or application for financial aid to attend college that students find out that their social security number has been used fraudulently — they may have poor credit due to false applications against their history, or worse, find that crime has been committed in their name.”

To solve this problem, schools first have to know what techniques cyberattackers use to hack their school.

The Top Cybersecurity Threats Facing Schools

According to CoSN (the Consortium for School Networking), there are 5 major cybersecurity threats schools need to be aware of. They are:

Phishing

We wrote about phishing in this post on cybersecurity tips for employees. It’s one of the most effective and dangerous hacking techniques.

Phishing is simple: a hacker sends an email pretending to be someone they’re not (like a personal acquaintance, coworker, vendor, etc.) and usually asks you to click a link within the email. The link will install malware on your system and allow the hacker to access personal information or creep from your computer to someone else’s to access your data.

DDoS

DDoS attacks are another favorite of cyberattackers.

It works like this: hackers build a network of infected computers (botnets) and use them to flood your server with traffic, crashing it. While your data won’t be stolen, it can certainly be lost, along with plenty of worker productivity, and money, as a result.

Data Breach

A data breach is the big one everyone should worry about, for good reason. It’s how hackers steal identities, credit cards, and any other valuable information that can be abused or sold.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), “The number of U.S. data breach incidents tracked in 2017 hit a new record high of 1,579 breaches.” That means there’s been a “44.7% increase over the record high figures reported for 2016.”

Ransomware

Ransomware is one of the scariest cybersecurity threats out there. Hackers infiltrate your computer (through other techniques like phishing) and then encrypt your data and require you to pay a ransom to regain access to the data.

The most infamous ransomware is WannaCry, which infiltrated over 200,000 computers in 150 countries in 2017.

IoT Vulnerabilities

The “Internet of Things” (IoT) is a growing line of devices, appliances, and other objects that are connected to the internet. From watches to coffee grinders to thermostats, these little machines offer new innovations and many more dangers.

Many IoT devices aren’t regularly updated and often lack the security measures required to prevent hacking attempts.

How to Combat Cybersecurity Threats in Schools

Schools are vulnerable, as we’ve made abundantly clear in this post.

But you can protect your school, your students, and your data from hackers.

One way to do it:

Train K-12 students in cybersecurity.

This gets students involved in hunting for cybersecurity solutions and potentially prevents some students from launching their own hacking attacks against their school.

Plus, they may be able to help administrators ward off attacks.

The only thing needed is an on-demand portal where students can learn basic and advanced cybersecurity skills in the classroom, the bedroom, or on the go.

Enterprise Solutions can be that portal.

We offer books, videos, and courses on topics such as:

  • Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs To Know
  • Cybersecurity: Public Sector Threats and Responses
  • Implementing the NIST Cybersecurity Framework

And much more.

To get started, claim your free 14-day trial of Enterprise Systems below.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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SB 1300 and SB 1343: What California Employers Need to Know

SB 1300 and SB 1343 #metoo movement sign
SB 1300 and SB 1343 were passed in response to high-profile allegations of sexual harassment.

Out of the 1,217 bills that passed across Governor Jerry Brown’s desk, he signed 1,016 and vetoed 201.

Two of the bills signed will dramatically alter the relationship between employers and employees in regards to sexual harassment complaints and legal action taken in the wake of an employee harassment complaint.

These bills are SB 1300 and SB 1343, and they were pushed and promptly passed in large part due to the #metoo movement.

They both expand mandated harassment training and SB 1300 in particular, expands the definition of sexual harassment and offers new legal protections for employees who are harassed, similar to what California SB 396 attempted to accomplish, but taking it one step further.

We’ll go over each of these bills in detail so you know what training you need to provide to staff and what the changes to the legal code mean for your relationships with your employees.

To start, let’s briefly cover SB 1343 since that’s the most straightforward of the two.

What is SB 1343?

SB 1343 only applies to businesses who employ 5 or more people.

There already exists a 2-hour sexual harassment training requirement for managers and supervisors, but SB 1343 mandates an additional training requirement for non-managers, including temporary or seasonal workers.

Both the 2-hour training and 1-hour training must be provided to staff by January 1, 2020. Every 2 years, you need to provide 1-hour of this training to all staff again.

If you hire employees after January 1, 2020, they must take the 1-hour sexual harassment training within 6 months of working on the job.

What is SB 1300

SB 1300 is a sweeping harassment bill that applies to all California employers regardless of how many employees they have or how large or small the business is.

We’ll do our best to cover all the major points here.

First off, employers are no longer allowed to offer the following in exchange for a raise, bonus, or as a condition of employment or continued employment:

  • Require an employee to sign a release that basically says they’re not allowed to possess a claim or injury against an employer or other entity, such as a civil action, or notify governmental entities such as law enforcement.
  • Require an employee to sign a non-disparagement agreement or something similar that denies the employee’s right to expose unlawful acts in the workplace, such as sexual harassment or otherwise.

Here are the other major points you need to know:

  • Employers may be responsible for the acts of nonemployees harassing employees and other nonemployees such as interns, volunteers, and service contractors.
  • A single incident of harassment is enough to bring the case to trial and raise the issue of a hostile work environment if the harasser’s behavior has unreasonably interfered with the plaintiff’s work environment.
  • No workplace will be held to a different standard regarding sexual harassment than any other workplace.
  • Defendants in harassment cases are prohibited from being awarded attorney’s fees and costs unless the court determines that the action brought against the defendant was frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless or that the plaintiff continued to litigate after it clearly became so.

SB 1300 Bystander Training

SB 1300 takes their training a step further and authorizes employers to provide employees with bystander intervention training, which includes:

  • Information and practical guidance for bystanders to recognize harassment when it occurs.
  • The skills, confidence, and motivation to intervene in a problematic situation.
  • And resources to use if they do intervene.

What Judicial Decisions Does SB 1300 Affirm?

SB 1300 took a look at existing judicial decisions and aligned with those it favored and departed from those it rejects.

Here are the cases it approves of and used as a basis for this new legislation:

  • Harris v. Forklift Systems. In this case, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated plainly that “the plaintiff need not prove that his or her tangible productivity has declined as a result of the harassment. It suffices to prove that a reasonable person subjected to the discriminatory conduct would find, as the plaintiff did, that the harassment so altered working conditions as to make it more difficult to do the job.”
  • Reid v. Google, Inc. In this case, the California Supreme Court rejected the “stray remarks doctrine,” because the “existence of a hostile work environment depends on the totality of the circumstances and a discriminatory remark, even if made not directly in the context of an employment decision or uttered by a nondecisionmaker, may be relevant, circumstantial evidence of discrimination.”
  • Nazir v. United Airlines, Inc. In this case, it was observed that “hostile working environment cases involve issues ‘not determinable on paper.’”

How Can You Prepare for SB 1300 and SB 1343?

Well, you’re going to need to provide extensive harassment training to your employees, managers, and supervisors.

Which means you need an easy way to access this information. You also want to make it as simple as possible for your employees to take this training.

We can help make this happen.

We have a full library of courses, ebooks, and videos that meet harassment training guidelines, such as:

  • Sexual Harassment Prevention for Employees
  • Smart Workplaces: Sexual Harassment Prevention for Field Managers & Supervisors California AB 1825 and all 50 States
  • Harassment Prevention for Managers – State and Local Government Sector Edition

The best part is, they’re all available immediately after signing up. To claim your free trial of Enterprise Training, simply click the button below.

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11 Major Issues Women in Trades Face and How to Solve Them

Women in trades cutting sheet metal
In a male-dominated workplace, women in trades face extra hazards that men don’t.

Most of the trades, like carpentry or cement masonry, are extremely dangerous to the average worker.

Some cities are even taking steps to ramp up their safety procedures, like New York City with Local Law 196.

But women in trades are especially vulnerable for a number of reasons and we need to be aware of these risks in order to mitigate them and provide a suitable work environment for women and men alike.

In this post, we’ll dive into the major problems women in trades often face and look at a few ways to solve these pressing issues.

Health and Safety Risks for Women in Trades (Based on SHEWT Research)

SHEWT was the study that broke open the door and shone a light on the issues women face in trades like construction.

It stands for Safety and Health Empowerment for Women in Trades.

According to their website, SHEWT was:

“A collaboration between the University of Washington Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and community partners Washington Women in Trades, the Washington State Labor Education and Research Center, the University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center, and the Washington State Building Trades Council’s Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Education (PACE) program.”

The purpose of SHEWT was two-fold:

  • Expose the harms and dangers that women in particular face in the trades.
  • And promote understanding of these unique risks in order to reduce them and replace them with better health and safety standards.

It should be obvious to anyone that construction workers face many dangers while on the job, such as slips and falls, contaminants, and potentially harmful machinery.

But what’s not obvious are the dangers women face in these male-dominated workplaces, such as stress resulting from harassment or discrimination, protective gear that wasn’t designed for the female physique, and even unclean facilities.

Here are the top problems women in trades face according to surveys conducted by SHEWT:

  1. Sexist stereotypes
  2. Physical limitations
  3. Discrimination
  4. Harassment
  5. Under-representation
  6. Having to prove selves
  7. No respect
  8. Poor work/life balance
  9. Poor training Inadequate
  10. Inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) and tools
  11. Women who set a bad example for everyone else

Now let’s take a look at the actual results of SHEWT.

Statistical Results of SHEWT

SHEWT surveyed almost 300 male and female workers, asking them questions regarding health and safety hazards in their respective workplaces.

The demographics were:

  • 68% women
  • 32% men
  • 43% were in an apprenticeship
  • 57% were on the journey level

And the majority of trades represented in the study were laborers, electricians, pipe trades, and carpenters.

Here are the results of SHEWT:

  • Women reported higher levels of perceived stress compared to men.
  • Over half of women surveyed said they pushed themselves past their physical comfort level at least half of the time in order to complete their work.
  • Almost half of women felt discriminated against at work due to their gender.
  • Women were more likely than men to report at least one injury at work in the past year.
  • Women were less likely to report their injuries because they were afraid of being laid off.
  • Women were more likely than men to report PPE not fitting properly.

Solutions to Hazards for Women in Trades

According to the women in trades surveyed, these are the solutions they see for the hazards they face:

  • More women
  • Education
  • Improved training
  • Treat women and men equal
  • Mentoring

Hannah Curtis, one of the lead researchers of SHEWT, was recently interviewed and largely agreed with the solutions these women laid forward.

Here’s what Hannah had to say about getting more women into trades:

“If you can get more women into the trades, if you can get more women into leadership positions especially, you can create more of a demand for PPE, you can make men more comfortable working with women, you can change the training so it’s more friendly for women’s ergonomics, just change the culture so it’s more supportive of women in general.”

On the topic of leadership, Hannah said:

“Having supervisors involved is really essential, especially having them set the tone in terms of anti-harassment. Making that a priority, and having it trickle down.”

And in regards to mentoring, Hannah said:

“I think [mentoring] is just such a wonderful way to help women deal with the stress resulting from the workplace stressors that they are experiencing. It can also be a form of prevention. If you give women the skills they need to navigate that culture, to work safely, to advocate for their safety on the job, you’re going to prevent them from getting into situations where things become overwhelming and they want to leave the industry.”

Next Steps for Improving Conditions for Women in Trades

It’s up to all of us to help women feel more comfortable in the workplace, get along well with their male counterparts, and get access to equipment that works with their physique.

You can’t do it all, but as a start, you can help educate yourself and your employees on these issues.

And we can help you do it.

We can give you access to guides and courses such as:

  • Developing Women Leaders: A Guide for Men and Women in Organizations
  • Career and Family Challenges for Women Leaders
  • The Gender Communication Handbook: Conquering Conversational Collisions between Men and Women

If you want access to these and many more resources, get your free trial of Enterprise Training below.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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What Is CISSP Certification and How Do You Get It?

What is cissp certification
To answer the question of what is CISSP certification you should know why it’s important.

CISSP certification is #1 on the list of the 8 most in-demand IT certifications, according to CIO.com.

And Burning Glass reported that “the demand for certified cybersecurity talent is outstripping supply. In the U.S., employers posted 49,493 jobs requesting a CISSP, recruiting from a pool of only 65,362 CISSP holders nationwide.”

This spells out huge opportunities for motivated IT professionals who want to work in the private sector and public sector because even the Department of Defense considers CISSP certification one of the lead qualifiers for getting hired in their department.

If you’re interested in earning this prestigious certification, let’s look at what CISSP is, how to get certified, and how to start preparing for the CISSP exam today.

What is CISSP Certification?

CISSP certification was developed by (ISC)² to be the world’s most-valued cybersecurity certification. According to (ISC)², employers prefer CISSP 3 to 1 over any other credential.

CISSP demonstrates that the certified holder can design, engineer, implement, and run an information security program.

It’s also one of the requirements for employment in IT Security roles at the DoD.

A wide array of IT professionals choose to get CISSP certified, including:

  • CIOs.
  • IT directors.
  • Security systems engineers.
  • And many more.

Once certified, (ISC)² provides a number of member benefits.

From digital badges that let you show off your newly acquired skill set to a free subscription to the bi-monthly newsletter InfoSecurity Professional Magazine. CISSP certification benefits extend beyond just a new job title.

But before you can access these benefits, you’ll have to pass the exam.

What is the CISSP Exam?

You take a look at the CISSP exam outline here.

The exam will take you 6 hours to complete and contains 250 questions. Some are in multiple choice, and some are in “advanced innovative” formats, which are drag-and-drop and “hotspot” type of questions. Here’s a preview of these types of questions from the InfoSec Institute.

There are 8 “domains” that you’ll be tested on, each carrying a different weight in the final score. For example, Security and Risk Management accounts for 15% of your final exam grade, as compared to Asset Security which only accounts for 10%. Knowing this will help you prioritize your study materials.

What Are the CISSP Requirements to Pass the Exam and Get Certified?

The CISSP Requirements to become certified are fairly straightforward.

Out of 1000 points, you have to pass the CISSP exam with a score of 700 or higher.

You also need at least 5 years of full-time work experience in at least 2 of these 8 domains:

  1. Security and Risk Management
  2. Asset Security
  3. Security Architecture and Engineering
  4. Communication and Network Security
  5. Identity and Access Management (IAM)
  6. Security Assessment and Testing
  7. Security Operations
  8. Software Development Security

You can either receive this work experience prior to taking the exam or after. However, if you take the exam without meeting the required 5 years of work experience in at least 2 domains, you will NOT be certified.

Instead, you’ll receive the title Associate of (ISC)². You can leverage this title to gain greater employment and use it become a member of (ISC)² with all the benefits included. Then once you meet the other requirements, you’ll receive your certification.

How Much Does CISSP Cost?

The cost of the CISSP exam is $699.

Once you pass the exam, you have to maintain your membership. Every 3 years, you’ll be required to pay $85 and log 120 continuing professional education (CPE) credits.

How Can You Get Instant Access to CISSP Online Training and Start Preparing for the Exam Today?

If you want to prepare for the CISSP exam and get CISSP certified, then you need access to on-demand online training you can take anytime, anywhere.

To set yourself up for success, you need a whole suite of videos, courses, and ebooks you can use to upgrade your skills and knowledge.

Resources like:

  • Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK Fourth Edition.
  • CISSP: Communication & Network Security Design.
  • CISSP: Identity and Access Management.
  • And many more.

Here’s a preview of what these classes are like so you know what to expect.

And if you want to access all of the available CISSP resources, go ahead and start your free trial of Enterprise Training below.  

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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15 Tips on Writing Effective Harassment Policies

harassment policies bully poster
Writing an effective harassment policy will help keep employees safe and create a friendlier culture

Only 26% of employees believe their organization can swiftly handle workplace harassment complaints, according to the report “Reality of the Modern Workplace: Understanding Employee Empowerment.”

The report also found that 1 in 6 American employees avoid reporting an issue, most likely out of fear of repercussions.

Then again, maybe they simply don’t know what to do since 48% of employees don’t even have an employee handbook, and 76% of employees have no way of submitting an anonymous complaint.

If your agency has similar issues, it’s time to fix them.

The first step? Designing better harassment policies.

We’ll give you 15 tips for writing effective harassment policies in today’s post.

But first, let’s look at why harassment policies are so important.

The Purpose of Harassment Policies

First and foremost, effective harassment policies help employees be treated equally and feel safe in the workplace.

When employees know the behaviors that aren’t allowed in the workplace, and they know exactly how they’ll be punished if they engage in prohibited behavior, they’re less likely to harass fellow employees.

It will also protect your agency from lawsuits.

One of the first things judges look at is if agencies in a harassment suit provided adequate care, resources, and training to prevent harassment from occurring in the workplace.

And ultimately, a well-written harassment policy will help create a culture of respect and civility – dramatically lowering the instances of harassment.

15 Tips on Writing Effective Harassment Policies

Harassment policies need to be written so that people can easily identify harassment and they know precisely what will happen to them if they harass coworkers.

To help you write your own harassment policy, here are 15 tips for making it clear and effective:

  1. Expand your harassment policy beyond sexual harassment and make sure it includes race, ethnicity, age, national origin, disability, and religion.
  2. Provide a crystal clear definition of harassment and a detailed list of prohibited behavior, including harassment that could occur at work-related functions or online.
  3. Explicitly grant protection from retaliation to employees and bystanders who file harassment complaints.
  4. Describe your process for anonymously filing complaints.
  5. Let employees file complaints with someone outside of their chain of command to avoid unnecessary conflict or fear of retaliation.
  6. Ensure that you will protect the identity and confidentiality of the employees who file harassment complaints, especially if complaints can’t be filed anonymously.
  7. Allow for an impartial investigation into harassment complaints, either from within your organization or from a 3rd party.
  8. Pledge to your employees that you will take immediate corrective action when harassment occurs.
  9. Detail the specific penalties and consequences for harassing employees, including termination.
  10. Do not take any action involving an alleged victim of harassment without first receiving their consent.
  11. Include emotionally-charged language that helps your employees viscerally understand your policies and the seriousness of harassment (i.e. say “target” instead of victim and “predator” instead of perpetrator).
  12. Post your harassment policy throughout your organization, on your website, and inside your employee handbook and orientation materials.
  13. Train all managers and supervisors in appropriately handling harassment complaints, and outline their roles and responsibilities when a complaint is filed.
  14. Emphasize that employees are protected from discrimination when it comes to employment decisions, such as hiring, firing, and transfers.
  15. Require that someone in a position of authority must give employees who file harassment complaints updates about the status of their investigation and the punitive action taken against the harasser if they’re found guilty.

Want a Complete Guide to Effective Harassment Policies?

While the harassment policy tips we just gave you are helpful, they’re often not enough.

If you want to give your harassment policies a complete overhaul (or finally create your first harassment policy), then you need in-depth guides that show you how to do it.

We can give them to you.

We provide a series of books, videos, and courses on sexual and non-sexual harassment policies and best practices, such as:

  • Harassment Prevention for Employees – State and Local Government Edition
  • Harassment Prevention for Managers – State and Local Government Sector Edition
  • Investigating Workplace Harassment: How to Be Fair, Thorough, and Legal
  • The Sexual Harassment Handbook
  • The Workplace Law Advisor: From Harassment and Discrimination Policies to Hiring and Firing Guidelines: What Every Manager and Employee Needs to Know

Start using these resources and many more to design an effective harassment policy by getting your free trial of Enterprise Training below.

Experience the proven, easy-to-use, and cost-effective benefits of online training by scheduling your free online training consultation today!

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