July #2: Why Employees Need Training, FMLA and Upcoming Training
In public works, municipal departments, and road construction crews, a common hiring mindset prevails: “He used to be a commercial logger, so he doesn’t need chainsaw training,” or “She ran heavy equipment for a private contractor, so she can just jump right in.”
Treating an employee’s work history as a substitute for formal, company-specific training is more than an onboarding shortcut—it is a massive risk. When handling heavy equipment, high-powered machinery, and working alongside moving traffic, the stakes aren’t a formatting error on a spreadsheet; they are severed limbs, catastrophic injuries, and fatalities.
Experience does not automatically equal safe execution in a new environment, and relying on it can devastate both your workforce and your budget.
1. The Legal Reality: OSHA Doesn’t Care About a Resume
OSHA makes one thing explicitly clear: the duty to train lies with the current employer, regardless of a worker’s background.
Under 29 CFR 1910.9(b), OSHA treats the failure to train each individual employee as a separate violation. If an accident occurs and an employer cannot produce documented proof of recent, job-specific training, pointing to the employee’s impressive 10-year resume will not stop the citations.
For municipalities, the financial consequences of skipping training are steep. As of 2026, OSHA penalty limits reflect just how seriously these infractions are taken:
- Serious Violations: Up to $16,550 per infraction (e.g., failing to train an employee on the specific hazards of a job site).
- Willful or Repeated Violations: Up to $165,514 per violation. If a supervisor knowingly bypasses mandatory equipment training because “the new guy already knows how to use it,” OSHA can classify this as a willful violation, exponentially increasing the fine.
2. The Danger of the “Former Expert”
Consider the “former logger”. On paper, they have years of experience with a chainsaw. However, commercial logging in a forest is a fundamentally different operational environment than clearing storm debris from a live, multi-lane roadway or trimming limbs around active power lines.
The hazards change completely:
- Different Rigging and Tension: Trees tangled in utility lines or pinned under structural debris act like loaded springs. A worker used to felling standing timber may not recognize the unique, lethal physics of urban storm cleanup.
- Environmental Obstacles: Public works crews face traffic control, underground utilities, overhead hazards, and nearby pedestrians—variables a wilderness logger rarely encounters.
- Equipment Variations: Your crew’s specific safety protocols, chain-brake engagement checks, and required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) may differ drastically from a previous employer’s lax or outdated standards.
Without targeted training, that “expert” is operating on assumptions, which is exactly how catastrophic injuries occur.
3. Unlearning Bad Habits Saves Lives
In manual labor, experience doesn’t always equal safe experience. In high-turnover industries, workers frequently pick up dangerous shortcuts to meet tight deadlines at previous jobs. They might be accustomed to bypassing machine guards, ignoring lock-out/tag-out procedures, or operating a trench shoring system incorrectly because “that’s how we always did it at my old company.”
The Reality Check: Formal onboarding and safety training act as a hard reset. It sets a baseline of expectations, establishing that whatever shortcuts were tolerated elsewhere will result in immediate termination or disciplinary action here.
4. Equipment Customization and “The Tech Stack” of Muscle Memory
No two fleets are exactly alike. A municipal road crew might utilize a different brand of backhoe, a specialized chipper with unique feed-control bars, or distinct safety interlocks than what a worker used in the past.
Even minor differences in hydraulic controls or emergency shut-off placement can cause fatal delays. In a crisis—such as a worker’s clothing getting caught in a piece of machinery—muscle memory takes over. If an employee hasn’t been explicitly trained on your exact equipment, their hand will reach for a kill-switch that isn’t there.
Summary: A Documented Standard of Excellence
| The “Shortcut” Approach | The Trained Approach |
| Assume Competence: Bypassing training based on a resume, creating a massive blind spot for dangerous habits. | Verify Competence: Utilizing hands-on evaluations and structured training to prove skills match the resume. |
| High Financial Risk: Facing up to $165k in willful OSHA fines if an untrained employee is injured. | Compliance Protection: Maintaining an airtight paper trail of certifications, protecting the organization from liability. |
| Inconsistent Safety Culture: Workers use whatever methods they prefer, fracturing team cohesion. | Unified Safety Culture: Every member of the crew speaks the same language and uses identical safety protocols. |
The Verdict
A history of manual labor is an asset, but it is never a substitute for a rigorous, documented training program.
For public works directors, site foremen, and road crew supervisors, the mandate is clear: Train the position, not the resume. Spend the time to conduct the chainsaw safety course, run the heavy equipment competency checks, and enforce the PPE guidelines on day one. It keeps your crew whole, keeps your organization compliant, and ensures that everyone who clocks in goes home at the end of the shift.
IMWCA welcomes Jon White as Medical Only Claims Examiner. Jon brings nearly 20 years of insurance industry experience, including medical claims handling, workers’ compensation, disability claims, quality assurance, compliance investigations and underwriting review. He is committed to providing excellent service and building strong relationships with IMWCA members. Outside of work, Jon enjoys spending time with his wife and their three children.
Running FMLA Concurrently With an
Absence Due to an On-the-Job Injury?
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is intended to protect an employee’s job when they need to be on leave due to their own serious health condition, along with other qualifying family and medical reasons.
If your employee is eligible for FMLA and their on-the-job injury qualifies for FMLA leave, you can run it concurrently with their time away from work due to the injury:
- An eligible public agency employee is one who has worked at least 12 months and 1,250 hours before the start of the leave and who works at or reports to a worksite at which 50 or more employees work within a 75-mile radius.
- According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a Workers’ Compensation injury that requires hospitalization or incapacitates an employee for more than three days and requires continuing treatment by a healthcare provider generally qualifies as a serious health condition under the FMLA. If this is the case, you do not need to request additional medical documentation from your otherwise eligible employee as you may use the medical documentation related to their on-the-job injury to qualify their leave as FMLA.
If you are going to place an injured employee on FMLA, you must notify them within five business days of the decision. You should track the FMLA leave used in your time and attendance system so you know how much FMLA leave they have remaining for the calendar year should they return prior to using the entire 12-weeks.
For additional information you can review the Department of Labor’s site: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla.
Upcoming IMWCA Trainings
Supervisor Training
Spots still available:
July 15 – Carroll
July 22 – Clinton
Handling employee performance and conduct issues can be daunting, uncomfortable, and confusing. IMWCA’s Supervisor Training Course provides new and experienced supervisors with tools and tips for managing inadequate performance and misconduct early on, when correction is easier.
Virtual Round Table
August 11 – Seasonal Employees: Best Practices for Onboarding and Offboarding
Gain valuable knowledge and real-world solutions for handling workers’ compensation issues in our quarterly virtual round tables. Each session kicks off at 9:30 a.m. with a 15-20 minute presentation, followed by an open discussion where you can ask questions and exchange ideas.
Join IMWCA at the Iowa League of Cities Annual Conference & Exhibit, September 23-25 in Bettendorf.
