Introducon
New employee training programs give employees
the informaon they need to protect themselves
and others at work and to eciently manufacture
quality feed. Feed mill employees must receive
formal training to comply with Occupaonal Safety
and Health Administraon (OSHA), Food and
Drug Administraon (FDA), and Environmental
Protecon Agency (EPA) regulaons. Training is
also required to aain most third-party cerca-
ons. The training program must document and
verify that the employee understands the material
and is competent in the subject maer. In addion
to being required by government agencies, train-
ing programs are a good business pracce.
Geng Started
STEP 1. The rst step in developing a training
program is to idenfy all of the topics required
by the company and specically by the feed mill.
Topics generally fall into the following broad cat-
egories:
Employee Handbook•
Posion Requirements•
Safety Training•
Quality Assurance•
Regulatory Compliance•
Employee Development and Cercaons•
Prevenve Maintenance and •
Housekeeping
Standard Operaon Procedures•
STEP 2. The second step is to create a check-
list that summarizes all the training topics (New
Employee Checklist). In some cases, employees
will require only an introducon to a topic, where-
as other employees will need to receive in-depth
safety training as part of their job assignment. An
example is Conned Space Entry Training: all em-
ployees must understand what denes a conned
space and the locaon of all conned spaces in the
feed mill, whereas maintenance employees and su-
pervisors who work in a permit-required conned
space must complete entrant, aendant, or supervi-
sor training.
First Day
A well-designed training program signals the com-
pany’s commitment to safety and employee devel-
opment. The employee’s rst day on the job is the
best me to establish safety expectaons. First-day
employee training topics should include an overview
of the company’s employee handbook, emergency
procedures, hazard communicaon standards, mate-
rial safety data sheet (MSDS) requirements, personal
protecve equipment (PPE), key policies, a facility
tour, and general administrave procedures. All
training should be documented.
Posion Informaon
Managers should review with each employee the
work schedule, payroll policy, job requirements, and
tasks specic to the posion. The employee should
receive a copy of the job descripon and understand
the performance expectaons and standards related
to the posion, as well as when and how his or her
performance will be evaluated.
Computer Systems
The job descripon should outline the computer
skills essenal for each posion. Feed mills use com-
puter systems to control the manufacturing process,
Developing a
Training Program
for New Employees