In the last five years or so, in talking with friends employed by companies where accidents have happened, someone always says “Hindsight is 20-20.” I understand how this saying can unfortunately be called to mind in the wake of an accident, emergency, or incident on a job site or pipeline location, but it still always makes me angry.
As a child, if you broke something or made a mess at my grandmother’s and we would say how sorry we were and that we didn’t “mean” to, that was always followed by a hug and the phrase “that’s why they’re called accidents and not on-purposes”.
Of course as children we were grateful for grandmother’s patience and understanding, but accidents in the construction and oil and gas industries can result in at best significant loss of property, and at its worst loss of life or limb. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to” just does not cut it. Fortunately, however, there’s no reason your employees need to rely on the knowledge gained after past mistakes and missteps to prevent such problems from recurring in the future. Rather, taking a proactive approach to safety training can help keep employees safe, preventing unfortunate accidents and incidents from ever occurring in the first place.
Safety training should always be a crucial part of every contractor and/or operator’s overall training program. These days’ employers have a large variety of options to select from in regards to safety training, including the choice between online safety training programs and face-to-face training. Although many employers are content with the traditional, face-to-face mode of safety training they’ve always been using, multiple studies have shown that in a head-to-head comparison online safety training offers multiple advantages.
Online Safety Training for the Over 50 Field-Hand
In my humble opinion, I doubt these studies include field hands in their mid to late 50’s that rarely, if ever, have touched a computer. This does not take them out of the online learning arena but it should be a consideration when exposing them to online training and testing. It’s not that they don’t know their “safety stuff,” they do. They likely have been through safety training more than once over the years but these big, scruffy guys can be easily intimidated by a screen, keyboard and mouse. It might be a good idea to ensure that you have a computer savvy person available to assist and provide reassurance to these guys if you are going to require them to participate in online safety training.
Face-to-Face Safety Training for the Younger Crowd (First-Timers)
Without a doubt, online computer training is the preferred method of the younger crew members. They have grown up with them. They don’t remember a time without them. Having said that, for the younger crowd, even though online training can be effective to a degree, I still feel like the FIRST time someone goes through OSHA 10 (or any safety training for that matter) it should be face-to-face. The discussion and question and answer sessions, the safety-related tales the instructor and others in the class share provide a real-world link in way that online training cannot. Again, that is just my opinion based on providing adult training for a number of years now. After that first time, for all re-certifications, this is THE way to go for your computer-friendly employees.
The Benefits of Online Safety Training
Online safety training is shown to be more time-efficient and convenient. In fact, reports have shown that online safety training can take between 25-75% less time to train than in a face-to-face situation. All employers and employees alike will certainly be able to appreciate the convenience and simplicity of an online training program. Instead of having to coordinate and rearrange the busy work schedules of your employees to get them to attend one, or more likely, multiple, face-to-face training sessions, your training manager can set up and execute an entire training session online with just a couple clicks of a mouse. This way, employees can complete safety training at a time and location that’s convenient for them and that won’t necessarily interrupt their work schedules.
While speed and convenience are certainly significant advantages, making sure your employees are retaining the material at hand is most important when carrying out safety training. Once again, employees that receive multimedia (online training that includes, audio, visuals and text) instruction are shown to have 25-50% higher retention rates over those receiving content through standard classroom instruction. What this shows so far is that online safety training is proven to save time, offer a convenient and efficient training solution, and enable employees to recall information at a higher rate than traditional face-to-face training.
However, face-to-face instruction is preferred (or in some cases required) over online training in certain circumstances, such as CPR and First Aid certification, for example. Even that seems to be changing with time. Besides a few exceptional situations like these, however, online safety training still offers many benefits over face-to-face trainings. Another benefit is providing consistent content. Live speakers can certainly be active and engaging, the problem is that different groups of employees could receive slightly varied information during each training session. With online safety training, on the other hand, the variance in content delivery is 20-40% less than with instructor-led training, ensuring that a wide array of employee receives the same information.
For all of these reasons, coupled with the fact that employees have the option to train at their own pace, often in a comfortable location of their choosing, lead to increased employee satisfaction when using online safety training.
AYUDA offers Online Safety Training
All courses featured on AYUDA’s online training site (powered by 360 Training) include integrated audio, text, graphics, animation, quizzes and final assessments. These courses integrate industry accredited e-learning content, increases workforce productivity and reduce allow for Regulatory & Compliance Training simplified.
Some of the most popular topics include:
OSHA Outreach Training
- 10 Hour Construction Outreach
- 10 Hour Construction Outreach – Spanish
- 30 Hour Construction Outreach
- 10 Hour General Industry Outreach
- 30 Hour General Industry Outreach
OSHA Hazardous Waste Training
- Hazwoper 40 Hour Course
- Hazwoper 24 Hour Course
- Hazwoper 8 Hour Refresher
- First Responder Awareness Level – 4hr
- First Responder Operations Level – 8hr
- DOT Hazmat General Awareness
AYUDA offers a wide variety of online training as well. We offer bulk discounts for companies needing to train multiple employees or train on multiple topics. Please visit http://ayudallc.com/online-courses to begin training today.
Special Discount Code:
AYUDA is offering discounts in April for any of the OSHA courses listed above. Just send an e-mail to info@ayudallc.com with your Company Name, Company Address, Your Name, Title, and E-mail Address and we will send you the discount code!