Training that sticks

By The Coffee Shops®.

This new fall protection trainer course gives roofing professionals tools to make safety education more relevant, engaging and consistent.

Fall protection training is familiar territory for many roofing contractors, but delivering information does not necessarily mean workers will retain it.

In a recent episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Megan Ellsworth spoke with National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) leaders Amy Staska and Rich Trewyn about the association’s Fall Protection Trainer Course for Roofing and its emphasis on developing stronger trainers.

“Falls continue to be the leading cause of serious injuries and fatalities in the roofing industry,” Rich said. “NRCA saw the need to help companies move beyond simply meeting compliance requirements and to help them build a stronger safety culture.”

Rather than simply providing another fall protection class, the course prepares participants to take what they learn back to their companies and teach others. Amy explained that NRCA has offered safety training for years, but the trainer component creates a different opportunity. “It is intended to be a class, not one you would send everybody to,” she said. “But that you would send one or two people to so that they could go back and effectively train others in the company.”

That focus also addresses a persistent challenge: keeping familiar safety messages fresh. Amy noted that contractors already conduct toolbox talks and emphasize fall protection on jobsites, but repeated messages can become easier to tune out. Rich added that effective training must account for workers with varying levels of roofing experience. “It’s easy to check that compliance box,” he said. “It’s easy to say, we did the training.”

The goal instead is retention. By combining roofing-specific fall protection knowledge with instruction on how to teach it, the course is designed to help trainers communicate information more effectively to their own teams.

Listen to the full podcast or Watch the recording to learn more about fall protection training.