Approximately 64 million baby boomers are poised to retire in large numbers by the end of this decade. A majority of these employees have skills that will be hard to replace. As new employees come on board, we need to understand that there is a period of training and learning.

While we train the new employee on the company safety and health program, emergency action plan and other safety related issues, we must also take this opportunity to influence the new employee on the safety culture and influence these employees to always keep safety in mind.

Safety is an attitude that must be conveyed to new hires and departmental transfers. While newly hired employees often receive safety orientation, departmental transfers are often overlooked because they may not be considered brand new employees. However, over time, policies, procedures and processes change and may vary from department to department. For this reason, people transferring between departments need to be included in the safety programs.

Now is the time to anticipate the turnover in the workplace and start to identify training needs. Identify the skills that are processed by your present workforce and try to have this knowledge passed on to the new employee.