Should technicians get maintenance safety certifications?

Moreso than effectiveness and profit, safety should be the primary concern of a facility, especially for its maintenance technicians - they are the employees who most often must place themselves in dangerous situations to perform their work, after all.

Oftentimes, we believe that maintenance technicians (or any other employee for that matter) don't use requisite safety equipment because they simply don't care or are more focused on efficiency. This thinking is sometimes correct, but some studies have found that many employees skip PPE because they are told to use it by a corporate entity without understanding why - the issue here is training.

Of course, we should hold people accountable when they know about safety features and choose unwisely not to use them. However, when technicians aren't properly safety trained, there's a root cause of the issue that's easily fixable via maintenance safety certifications. The concept of maintenance certifications might seem daunting, but ultimately, employees want to be safe at work so they can return home safely to their loved ones.

Sometimes we feel like we don't want to do certain tasks or take certain precautions because we don't know why we have to do them. Maintenance certifications serve to solve this issue by giving technicians in-depth knowledge of why safety precautions are taken, thereby increasing the likelihood of using those safety features.

Maintenance certification courses also have some side benefits - for instance, technicians often involve their families and loved ones in their courses, getting help with studying and quizzing at home. This adds an additional dynamic to their safety: not only is the technician invested in their safety training but so too is their family.

Ultimately, it's possible to have a safe facility without maintenance safety certifications. But certifying technicians in safety practices has multiple benefits that can't be overlooked. At the end of the day, maintenance professionals want to feel proud of their work, and adding maintenance safety certifications provides another dimension of pride.