POST FALLS — Mike Closson Jr. brought a group of students out to the parking lot to look at a boom. He went over how to conduct a pre-shift inspection, checking for leaks in the machine, and how to navigate various control panels.

“You don’t have to be a mechanic to do this,” he said. “We’re just looking for obvious issues.”

Students then took turns putting on safety harnesses, climbing into the boom and practicing operating the machine.

This year’s Safety Fest of the Great Northwest served more than 500 community members by offering 58 free classes, all on workplace safety. Some classes even came with a certification or document of completion.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for employers to make sure their crews are enlightened and have the training they need,” Closson said. “This class would be $2,000 regularly, so it’s great that employers are investing their people’s time and making the community safer, especially in the workplace.”

Classes, demonstrations and workshops were taught by labor industry and cybersecurity experts.

Classes included a K9 demonstration by the Post Falls Police Department, manufacturing safety, OSHA 10 training, LEAD training, water safety, workplace violence and work-zone flagging. Representatives from Operation Lifesaver were talking with people about safety at railroad crossings and a group from the University of Idaho was there looking for industry feedback on a virtual program they had made to help with traffic safety operations.

Eleven of the offered courses included a certification, such as CPR/first aid, or are required training for industry workers.

Pat Cruver has been thinking about going back to work, so he took advantage of this year’s Safety Fest of the Great Northwest.

The Pullman, Wash., man signed up for 10 classes over three days. He said it was good to refresh his skills and learn about new equipment and technologies in the workforce.

“I’ve got the time and it’s free,” he said about his decision to go to Safety Fest. “I need to catch up on what’s new. If you’re not on the job learning about this stuff, you have to take advantage of these kinds of things.”

Timothy Williams is the new safety coordinator at the Coeur d’Alene Casino. He decided to take advantage of Safety Fest to get caught up on his own training. He said Safety Fest was a great opportunity and appreciated the fact that courses included everyone.

Greg Rodriguez, the chair of Safety Fest, said he couldn’t have been happier with this year’s event.

“This is a huge event and I’ve had community members bug me about when they can sign up and that’s really great,” he said. “And the safety part of it, what people might not be able to get at their companies, they can get it here and then go back and share what they’ve learned, and that’s really important.”