Cheektowaga outlines expanded employee safety training, rolls out learning platform for department heads

Jason Tolsma presented a summary of recent and planned employee safety and training activities to the Town Board of Cheektowaga on May 27, saying the program aims to reduce workplace injuries and increase staff readiness.

Tolsma said training since 2024 has included work-zone safety, blood-borne pathogens, harassment prevention, slips and falls, electrical hazards, heat-stress awareness, ergonomics, excavator and chainsaw operation, CPR/AED classes, and table-top exercises that involve police and new supervisors. “We have a safety committee that was started…made up of employees from all of the different groups…we meet monthly, and we talk about training,” Tolsma said. He added those sessions include union representatives, supervisors and department heads and that training is planned collectively rather than as an individual effort.

Tolsma told the board the town has held multiple in-person supervisor trainings and that employees were split into groups — about a third at a time — to receive hands-on instruction. He said excavator training is required for employees operating mechanized…