It is late Friday afternoon in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Jeff Hartley, a returning summer student, is looking forward to the end of the workday so that he can join his team from the paint department at the baseball game tonight. At the same time, in the office area adjacent to the plant, Julie Adler is working on the finishing touches to a new training program she will be requiring all new employees to take prior to being hired at Simplas Inc. Julie just completed hiring back all the summer students who were on staff last year and is anxious to have them attend this required training/ onboarding program scheduled for Monday morning.

The company has never had a formal onboarding program before, including no Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) training regarding chemicals and their effects in the workplace. Julie has been noticing some unsafe behavior's lately and wants to take this opportunity to put appropriate training in place. Another part of Julies plan for this training is to emphasize the supervisors role in each department with regard to promoting safe behaviours, especially in the area of proper handling of chemicals in the workplace.

An hour later Julie has put the finishing touches on her new orientation/training program, has confirmed the trainer scheduled to certify everyone in WHMIS on Monday, and has received top management support for her program when she hears screams coming from the paint department. Running down the stairs to the paint department, she sees Jeff Hartley unconscious on the floor. The sound of the arrival of the ambulance erupts into the air. After Jeff is taken to the hospital, Julie is desperate to investigate what happened. She turns to his supervisor and demands to know all the details. In his hurry to be done for the day, Jeff did not wear his face mask while he was painting a final part and must have passed out from the paint fumes collecting in the area. Julie sighs and realizes just how much more training will be needed at this company; onboarding is just a start. Please assist Julie by answering the following questions.

Discussion Board Questions

1.What legal aspects regarding the obvious lack of training in this case will Julie, as HR manager, and the company must deal with?

2.How can the five-step training process assist in this scenario?

3.Should Julie put together specific training for all summer students?