“Health & Safety Training” is the most important instrument for preparing workers and safety officers to aware of workplace hazards and controls so they are able to create and work in a safe environment and be more productive. Education and training is aim to provide workers and officers with a greater sightedness of the safety and health knowledge so that they can contribute to the development and implementation of a safe workplace environment.
SKILLS GAP
A skills gap is the difference between skills that employers want or need and skills their workforce offer.
Workshops, training sessions, and seminars, along with formal training are essential to minimize the Skills Gap.
To bridge the skills gap trainees can be offered with
Subscriptions, online courses, and educational material.
Voluntary employee mentorship programs.
Opportunities to attend events and conferences.
Opportunities to obtain certifications like Project Management Professionals (PMP) or Professional Certified Marketer (PCM).
Before engaging in any potentially hazardous activities, officers and workers must receive appropriate safety training
Effective “Health And Safety Training” must contribute to a reduction of workplace accidents also assist employers to meet their health and safety legal obligations as prescribed by legislation.
The training should comprise:
1: Provide program awareness training for employees.
2: Train employers, managers, and supervisors on their roles in implementing the safety programs.
3: Train workers on their specific roles in the safety and health program
4: Train workers on hazard identification and controls
5: Train safety officers to design effective safety policies.
SAFETY TRAINERS
Regardless of the company-specific variations, most safety trainers have one thing in common: they’re responsible for educating employees about their roles and responsibilities in keeping the workplace safe.
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.”
— William Butler Yeats
This begins from the first day an employee joins the team and continues until their last day in the office.
CHARACTERISTIC OF TRAINER OF ‘HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING’
“A Good Trainer ignites the minds of students”
–APJ Abdul Kalam
Regardless of the company-specific variations, most safety trainers have one thing in common: they’re responsible for educating employees about their roles and responsibilities in keeping the workplace safe.
“Effective trainers have a desire to impart their knowledge to others”
Another identified characteristic is that of having a positive, helpful, and cooperative attitude which is required to engage students during the training activity.
For ‘Health And Safety Training’, the trainer should be able to apply the application of adult learning principles as appropriate to their target audience and adult learning principles should also be reflected in the learning objectives.
An effective health and safety trainer should possess specific knowledge and skills including
- a) leadership skills.
- b) communication skills.
- c) health and safety principles.
- d) techniques of safety and health management.
- d) training, instruction, coaching, and problem – solving skills relevant to safety and health.
- e) detailed knowledge of the safety and health arrangements relevant to an individual‘s jobs
- f) knowledge of relevant legislation and appropriate methods of control, including risk assessment.
- g) awareness of the financial and economic benefits of good safety and health performance.
In short, the general characteristic of safety trainers is that they are required to be subject matter experts. Any trainer engaging in health and safety training must be competent in the area themselves. They must not only have a thorough knowledge of the topics being taught, they should also have relevant experience.
Another identified characteristic is that of having a positive, helpful, and cooperative attitude which is required to engage students during the training activity. This characteristic is tied to strong leadership abilities that are required to direct learners to the required objective
An Effective Safety Training Method of a good trainer is that learners react to and absorb information differently.
3 MAIN COMPONENT “P” OF ‘HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING’
as the course instructor, a trainer should follow 3 P components:
1) Preparation: preparatory work will help trainers elaborate and clarify points raised within the training and generally enhance trainers’ confidence and competence to deliver the training.
Allow sufficient preparation time before delivering the course to familiarise yourself with the training. Ensure that your knowledge is up to date by familiarising yourselves with the course.
2) Presentation: you should already be reasonably comfortable with presenting. To take things to the next level though, find someone – a peer, a professional, or a video camera and your own insight – to critique your presentation delivery. There’s always room for improvement.
3)Participation: student’s participation can enhance the presentation of material, and is yet another way to keep students engaged. Asking questions, discussing real or simulated cases from the field, small group activities, hands-on skill practice, and staging “real-life” training activities are ways to involve students.
The concepts of preparation, presentation, and participation as key components to providing quality education can help instructors improve the educational experiences their students receive.
4 COMMON ERRORS WHILE TRAINING EMPLOYEES
1) Forgetting “the why”
Understanding “the why” gives them a deeper understanding of their role in the organization and what the organization is all about. It empowers them with problem-solving skills and allows them to evaluate processes and root out inefficiencies.
2) Rushing the learning process
Hitting them with all of the information upfront can make it difficult to digest. The learning process should not be cyclical. The final step, Expanding Skills, kicks trainees back to the first step, with a need to Communicate. And the process starts over again.
3) Picking the wrong trainer
The best teacher is not necessarily the person that’s best at the role themselves. The trainer’s door needs to be open. Pick the right teacher
4) Missing an opportunity to continuously improve
Stay committed to employee training and regularly review to identify areas for improvement. Training programs that don’t undergo regular review never will improve, which means your trainees and trainers both will remain underdeveloped.
LANGUAGE BARRIERS ACROSS TRAINING
In a situation where you have to deliver training to a group of people who do not speak the same language. It is by no means impossible to deliver effective training to a multilingual group using the following key points.
Pitch it at the right level: with a simple exercise like having the group introduce themselves individually, or maybe a simple questionnaire. Once you know the level of their English understanding, you can pitch your training appropriately.
Speak clearly
You need to speak clearly and pronounce your words correctly. Be sure to repeat the important points of your training material several times using different words, if possible.
Use plain language
Avoid using acronyms, slang and jargon, which may be very difficult to explain. Also, avoid “management speak” and idiomatic phrases, the meanings of which can be quite subtle
Use visual aids
Using visual, non-spoken communication can be a useful tool for getting information across
Encourage class participation
By having the group participate in practical exercises you can assess how much they have understood and give them comments and feedback.
Give handouts
Give your trainees something to take away with them that summarizes the training you have covered. This gives them the opportunity to review the material and study it in their own time.
Understand cultural differences
Be mindful of cultural differences within the group you are training and avoid using cultural references they may not understand.
Use an interpreter
Sometimes you may be able to use an interpreter to translate in real-time.
TRAINEES
LEARNING PROCESS
Four Stage Learning Cycle
The four-stage learning cycle is characterized by:
Concrete Experience
The concrete experience stage includes learning from doing, where a new experience or situation is encountered, or based on a reinterpretation of existing experience.
Reflective Observation
Reflective observation suggests that learners can learn by reflecting on past experience
Abstract Conceptualization
Abstract conceptualization relates to the formation of new ideas based on past experience giving rise to a new idea, or a modification of an existing concept.
Active Experimentation
Active experimentation includes taking the ideas developed in the abstract conceptualization stage and testing them out.
FOUR BASIC LEARNING STYLES:
Accommodative, Assimilative, Divergent, and Convergent
Accommodating Learners are those who have the ability to learn primarily from ‘‘hands-on’’ experience.
Assimilative Learners prefer readings, lectures, exploring analytical models, and having time to think things through
Diverging Learners are learners with a preference to work in groups, listening with an open mind and receiving personalized feedback.
Converging Learners excel at finding practical uses for ideas and theories.
FIVE METHODS OF LEARNING
Visual Learning
Best internalization and synthesization of information when it is presented in a graphic depiction of meaningful symbols are visual learners. They may respond to arrows, charts, diagrams, and other visualizations of information hierarchy.
Auditory Learning
Auditory (or aural) learners are most successful when they are given the opportunity to hear information presented to them vocally. These students may simply have decided that note-taking is a distraction and that their unbroken attention is a more valuable way for them to learn.
Physical/ Tactile Learning
Use of tactile experiences and carry out a physical activity to practice applying new information connects learners to reality, either through concrete personal experiences, examples, practice, or simulation.
Practical Learning
Practical learners focus on learning how things actually work.
Theoretical Learning
The theoretical learners focus on why things work and take up information by learning the foundation of the task and the theories, history, and facts about it.
Training is essential to every organization’s safety and health program and in most cases is a legal obligation.
For practically effective ‘Health And Safety Training’, the trainee must choose the best training Institute (visit: www.keneducation.in) and the best trainer. Any investment in such training is rewarded with reduced workplace accidents.
To broaden your understanding around the health and safety topic, join us at info@keneducation.in or visit our website www.keneducation.in or call on +917569034271
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