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Safety Focused e-Learning: Boon or Bane?
By Carola Hicks
The global outsourced e-Learning market is currently estimated at more than $14 billion, and it is expected to grow much faster than videotape, instructor-led or other, more-traditional training formats. This method of learning is enjoying a phenomenal success.
Safety and compliance training can be effectively provided through e-Learning programs. The bottom-line question is, “which learning format provides for the best retention and practical applications of the learned material?” Training, learning or education, from any source or in any format, has little value if the information is not put to practical use to fulfill the original learning objective.
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There are thousands of safety-focused e-Learning programs available. To review and choose those that meet the specific safety requirements of a company can be daunting. Not all individuals are computer savvy; e-Learning for these employees could be objectionable. In such a case, it is almost certain that the employees will retain minimal information, and the objective of the training program will have been lost.
It is a challenge to find interactive and user-friendly programs that provide for maximum learning without antagonizing users. The types of workers who will be using the programs need to be evaluated. Are they young or new to the workforce? Are they old salts complacent and set in their ways? Are they enthusiastic, open to being the best they can be by welcoming every new learning opportunity? Someone knowledgeable and competent must evaluate and choose the programs best suited to the company’s and its employees’ specific needs. The content of the training courses must meet workers’ needs and levels of understanding, and fulfill managers’ and supervisors’ due-diligence requirements.
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The person responsible for choosing training programs needs to first identify the company’s hazards and risks, in order to be certain that chosen programs address those specific hazards in sufficient detail to satisfy the Occupational Health & Safety Act rules and regulations. If a Ministry of Labour inspector were to assess the training, would he or she agree that due diligence has been satisfied? The second important consideration relates to the job specificity of the training. Generic, or one-size-fits-all, training is inadequate and would not prove due diligence in the event of an accident or death investigation.
With the large number of online programs now available, it is possible to choose training programs that meet specific requirements for specific jobs. Programs can be purchased individually or as packages from which specific training programs can be isolated and assigned to individuals in a customized fashion. Pricing for training programs can range from the sublime to the ridiculous, with the high-priced programs not always providing the best source of information or training. As with all purchases, buyer beware; do the research.
Because employers have accepted safety responsibility for their employees, they need to find cost-effective, acceptable and industry-specific health and safety programs. An important benefit of e-Learning is its immediate accessibility, which eliminates costly day-away training, production shut-down, and hiring of expensive trainers to do in-house training, and provides new workers with instant access to job-specific training so they can begin doing what they were hired to do without delay.
The advantage of e-Learning versus in-class instruction is that each person receives exactly the same training. Comprehension outcomes can be easily measured by the number of times an employee reviewed the training and how many times he or she attempted a test. Because tests are randomly shuffled, even two people beside each other, taking the test simultaneously, cannot share answers.
The human-resource function of documenting employees’ training is time consuming and takes away from other areas where an HR person is needed. Corporate clients have to track completion of required safety training. E-Learning programs have the capacity to do that tracking: a management and reporting system can be administered by the program provider or clients can use the program to track completed training themselves.
When the many benefits of safety-focused e-Learning are evaluated, it is not difficult to see that this method of learning far exceeds other, more-traditional learning methods and to understand its rate of acceptance and growth. E-learning can absolutely be considered a boon in the delivery of safety training.
Carola Hicks is CEO of Workplace Safety Group, a member company of SAC-ACE, partnering with companies to help them achieve workplace health and safety compliance.
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