From May 2 to May 6, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) held its third annual National Safety Stand-Down, which raises awareness of frequently cited OSHA violations in the hopes of preventing common workplace accidents. In support of this initiative, WernerCo, a Greenville, Pa.-based climbing equipment manufacturer, hosted 107 safety events across the country and trained more than 18,000 workers, representing a variety of industries and companies, including Apple, Lockheed Martin, Walsh Construction, Abbott Labs and Stanford University.

Dan Ward, WernerCo’s National Safety Training Manager, said, “The end-user field training is vitally important to ensure all employees across a variety of roles adopt safe practices and proper usage of equipment on the job site.”

The events were conducted by the WernerCo end-user specialist (EUS) team, which consists of 26 safety professionals nationwide. These specialists are normally engaged with continuous on-site training simulations and safety programs. In March, the EUS team conducted 250 ladder and fall protection training sessions, training more than 3,300 people.

For National Safety Stand-Down, the EUS team’s trained workers on the proper use of ladders and fall protection gear at job sites. They conducted a range of events from one-on-one training to large-scale seminars, focusing on teaching basic safety and how to respond to issues based on real-life scenarios.

“The majority of workers have never been taught about performance value of a safety harness in relationship to that specific design and the way it is worn. Moreover, the way the worker is wearing the harness will sometimes dictate the type of rescue that will be needed to perform,” said Ward. “This information is critical to ensure the end-users are prepared in the event of a fall. This is the exact reason we offer hands-on training from our end-user specialist team as well as online programs.”