Evaluation of the Outcomes of an Occupational Health and Safety Training Program

Abstract

We are evaluating the outcomes of an occupational health and safety training program provided by a Quebec union whose objective is to increase member's ability to participate in injury prevention through union action. In a previous exploratory study we identified the 32 themes of the OHS training program and the learning outcomes pertaining to each of these themes. We used a pretest posttest control group design in order to evaluate the program's outcomes. Questionnaires were distributed to intervention (n=40) and control groups (n=47) whose respective response rates were 100% and 89.4%. We used logistic regression in order to measure the respective effects of OHS program exposure and of the pretest results on the posttest results. In addition, we controlled for the potential confounding effects of the following variables: length of experience as a union delegate or as a member of occupational health and safety committee, previous exposure to an OHS training program, and presence in the delegate's firm of other workers previously exposed to the OHS training program under study. We report on one of the themes of the OHS training program that we identified: the legal right for a worker to refuse to execute a dangerous working activity. The results show that the training on that theme produced most of its expected outcomes.