New Heights Industries

 The following is a commentary on training and the avenues and methods we sometimes choose for the delivery of safety training and perhaps provides some thought of where each of us fits in.

Safety training is an all encompassing term used quite frequently throughout all industries when it comes to teaching, informing, instructing or imparting knowledge to workers required by regulation, company policy or for other reasons to “be trained”.

But quite honestly what does that “training” word mean anyway?

Is it attending an event whether it is on-line, CD/video based, classroom and / or practical sessions?  What is it, really?

There will always be arguments regarding what we should provide, what we should take and what we get in relationship to how the training is provided.

You Gotta Do It!

I guess the best way to begin to describe what training is, is to look at how and what we learn and understand what motivate us to follow the course that leads us to making the decision as to what method of training delivery we choose to follow.

Let’s start at the beginning with why do we require training in the first place?

“It’s because the regulator or regulation said we had to be “trained” or “we had an accident and upon investigation we found that the employee was not “properly trained” or maybe “I want to be proactive in safety and therefore want my people trained to prevent accidents from occurring”.  The reasons may be endless but one common link is that for whatever reason training is required!  But what is the “right” training?

When one looks at training objectives and goals, do we realistically set clear objectives that the trainee can achieve upon completion of the course?  What exactly will this person be able to do, effectively, correctly and safely upon completion of the course?

Does the training event have a standard that all trainees must meet and the instructor follow consistently?

Is there a knowledge verification or evaluation process in place to measure the learning process or curve right from the onset or start of the course and finally at the end of the course to evaluate where the learning began and where the training ended?

Is the training course suitable to the industry or work environment that the trainees are expected to work in or at?

Who will provide the training to the workers?  Is it an “in-house” trainer, third party training organization, an on-line or computer based course?  Are they “qualified” to provide this training?

Who “selects” the training provider regardless of what forum the training takes?

Who will receive the training and again does the training suit their specific needs?  Is it “the right tool for the right job”?

The frequency of training and retraining is another hotly contested topic.  Choosing the frequency of training is, for some, very problematic where most if not all regulations do not speak specifically to this subject.

So the question here then is “how do we know when to retrain our workers”?  Have we observed the workers using or practicing the skills they originally learned in the original training course?

In order for the right training course to be delivered to the right worker one must consider the following items.

Has a training needs assessment been completed to determine exactly what training is required including but not limited to scope, clear objectives, and types of equipment the training must cover and frequency of retraining.

In closing we all choose the path we choose for our own reasons (money, time, production losses etc.) but we must always ask ourselves one very important question.

“Are we providing the training to the workers so they get a card or certificate or are we providing the training to the workers so they learn a skill(s) verify their abilities successfully and then receive the card or certificate”?

Without clear legal language and definition in our regulations, it is left up to all of us to determine what “training” is and more importantly what “proper training” should be!

Some of us will remember years ago, before we had driver’s education in the schools, when we first applied to get our driver’s license and we first had to write the “beginner’s test”, pass it and then we received our “beginner’s permit”.  But why didn’t we receive our “driver’s license” at the same time?

It was and is because we first had to take the knowledge we gained studying for and writing the beginner’s test and apply it in practical terms by actually driving mom and dad’s car with usually either one of them with us all the while.  Only after gaining confidence through our gaining of competence did we choose to challenge the “driver’s test” to get our actual driver’s license.

Driving the car, parallel parking, turning right, turning left, parking on a hill etc. had to be demonstrated to perfection prior to the driver examiner “signing off” and issuing our license.  Is safety training any different?

Regardless of how or the method training is delivered, in the end “can you show me you can”?

And if you can, then I think I now have an idea of that the definition of training really is or should be!

"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."

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