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Showing posts with label Education and Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education and Training. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Safety Training That Works: How FED Keeps Its Courses Fresh and Engaging by Natasha Serafimovska

At the beginning of last summer, Safety + Health Magazine released the 2022 Training Survey with some telling results.  Companies are tired of the same old safety training that is stale, repetitive, and ineffective.

When asked about their greatest challenges around worker safety training, companies identified these five common concerns as their biggest pain points:

  • Keeping training interesting, relevant, and up-to-date;
  • Offering consistent training across the organization;
  • Flexible schedule to accommodate various shift structures and work models;
  • Getting employees to complete their training and implement what they’ve learned;
  • Getting management buy-in about the importance of the training;

As a safety training provider who’s been around for over 30 years, this got us thinking at Future Environment Designs Training Center (FEDTC) about why that is the case.  Why do training providers struggle to keep safety training fresh and engaging at a time when there are so many tools and learning models at our disposal? 

Here, we share how FEDTC keeps our training fresh, engaging, and flexible.  We hope that this will help our current and new customers better assess our course offerings as well as give other training providers some insights into how they can improve their approach so that we can all raise the safety training standards and reduce injuries across the board.

Asbestos Handler 

Keeping Employees Interested and Engaged

Safety training is a regulatory requirement which means that most workers go through the same content each year.  Not only that, but safety content in itself can sometimes be a bit dry as there’s a lot about rules, regulations, and what workers should and shouldn’t do in different scenarios. 

That said, it doesn’t mean that safety training should be boring.  At FEDTC, for instance, we take great care in making our courses as engaging as possible.  At the beginning of the pandemic, we implemented Poll Everywhere, a polling tool that allows students to interact during virtual and in-person classes and helps the trainer check in with students as part of their presentation. 

This breaks up the one-way communication of the training format and gives students the desire to ask questions, comment, and give feedback.  All of this has significantly increased participation, and discussions, and has helped us make our courses much more interesting for our students.

Asbestos Operations & Maintenace

Offering Training That’s Consistent and Tailored to the Organization

If safety training is to work, it needs to be consistently delivered across the organization.  Likewise, the content needs to be adapted to the organization’s specific scenarios for it to resonate with the employees, as not all businesses face the same safety concerns.

At FEDTC, we review our training materials annually to determine if they need to be updated.  We also adjust our classes to meet specific work procedures and practices our clients use, such as working with asbestos cement pipe or asbestos electrical wire insulation.  All of this makes the training relevant and consistent with the working environment in which our clients operate. 

Not only that, but we regularly attend conferences such as Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY)Environmental Information Association (EIA), the American Council for Accreditated Certifications (ACAC), and others to stay abreast of the latest research, regulations, and standards in the industry. 

40-hour HAZWOPER 

Making Training Flexible

A large portion of our courses is available as both an in-person course and a virtual class which students can choose based on their location, work schedule, and availability.  We also run the same courses several times each month so that students have more options to choose from. 

When it comes to online training, we offer courses that are on-demand and students can take whenever they want or virtual instructor-led classes which can enrich the learning experience but do require student participation in a specific time. 

Mold Worker/Remediation/Supervisor/Assessor Course

Driving Course Completion and Compliance

For us, the training doesn’t end in the (virtual) classroom. Instead, we engage with learners post-training via email, text, or phone to answer questions and keep engagement high.  If we go back to the polling tool, we also use polls to keep the communication going in between courses if they take place on different days or months.

When it comes to compliance, we use polls at the beginning of our training sessions to see how much our learners remember from the previous year.  This helps us identify key areas we need to put extra focus on or update the content to make it more memorable and engaging.  This has dramatically improved learners’ knowledge retention and improved the overall outcomes of our training courses. 

At FEDTC, we understand that learners may need several touchpoints with the content in order to learn it. That’s why we try to provide as much and as diverse content as possible through our website, blog, and LinkedIn New York Asbestos Group.  For example, learners (and their employers) can use our Resource Page to get access to a plethora of recordings, papers, and conference presentations which are constantly updated via Dropbox.  We also provide a Negative Air Calculator for learners to get a better understanding of how negative pressure can keep work areas safe and lower contamination levels. 

OSHA 10-hour Construction Safety Course

Showing the Value of Safety Training

Finally, we don’t take things for granted.  We use Coursecheck, an online course feedback tool, to invite students' feedback and use that as a guide for improvement.  So far, we’ve received over 1500 online reviews with an overall 4.8 out of 5-star rating. 

Other than looking at what other people are saying, the best way to demonstrate the value of the training FEDTC provides is to give it a go.  FEDTC offers many short and refresher courses which you can use as a test drive to see if our methods suit your needs.  Once you’ve assessed the outcomes of those courses, we’d be happy to have a wider discussion about how we can deliver holistic safety training that is going to meet the needs of your particular business. 

OSHA 30-hour Construction Safety Course
The Bottom Line

Safety training may not be your favorite pastime activity, but its value in the workplace is indisputable. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that in 2020 there have been 4,764 work-related deaths where construction and transportation fatalities accounted for nearly half of those.  Construction, in fact, is cited as the industry with the highest rate of workplace fatalities in the United States.   

This highlights the importance of delivering quality and engaging workplace safety training.  The onus is both on training providers and employers to collaborate and come up with solutions that are relevant, engaging, and tailored to the circumstances workers face each and every day.




Saturday, December 26, 2020

A Merry Holidays and a Happy New Year! We wish you a New Year better than the last one and the best one yet!

Future Environment Designs Training Center (#FEDTC) wishes you and your family a Merry Holidays and a Happy New Year.  As we say goodbye and good riddance to 2020.  At the same time, we enter 2021 with hope and faith that the rest of the decade will be better than it started.  As we discussed, in December's Safety Suzy Newsletter this year the asbestos training industry was shut down from March to May, until we were allowed to do refresher classes virtually/online.  Then in-person training for initial training was opened in June and refresher classes were opened in July.  Since July, we were only allowed to hold classes at 50% capacity.  We're still running at 50% capacity and will continue to run at this level and follow our pandemic policy in our in-person classes until the pandemic is over.

Rockefeller Christmas Tree

In our December Safety Suzy, we announced an increase in our loyalty discount for students who trained with us in 2020.  The loyalty discount for 2021 has been increased to 25% (from 15%).  We thank all of you for your continued support of our business.  For those paying for a subscription or purchasing training services in advance, we are increasing the discount you receive for purchasing training services in advance.  See our Patreon website for more information.

Socially Distanced Asbestos Initial Class

We are proud to announce the addition of a new instructor at #FEDTC.  Mr. Ramon De Los Santos who is an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Outreach Training Instructor has over 15 years of construction experience in road construction safety.  Mr. De Los Santos is bilingual and speaks English and Spanish fluently.  #FEDTC will be adding Spanish OSHA 10-hour & 30-hour construction safety courses to our schedule.  We look forward to adding this training to our schedules along with Spanish versions of hazard communication/right-to-know; excavation, and fall protection courses.  Welcome aboard Mr. De Los Santos!

Fifth Avenue Star

Since the pandemic started we have added new on-demand/e-learn courses to our catalog.  We have added a two-hour Covid-19 awareness course, a 4-hour bloodborne pathogen course, and newly added to the catalog the AHERA designated person course.  The AHERA designated person course is required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) for the person that the Local Education Agency (LEA) designated as the individual responsible for ensuring the requirements of the AHERA regulation are properly implemented.  To register for this course or any of our on-demand/e-learning courses visit FEDTC's online training website.     

Socially Distanced Initial Mold Class

We are looking forward to seeing all of you in 2021.  We are also excited about the changes and opportunities coming our way.  Again, we wish you & your family a Merry Holidays and a Happy New Year!!!

Thursday, November 03, 2016

Future Environment Designs Attends the LITE 2016 Conference & Is Inspired!

On September 23-24, Future Environment Designs (FEDTC) attended the Learning, Innovation, Technology, Evolution (LITE) 2016 Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland.  This was the first year we attended this conference and it probably won't be the last.  The conference is run by Administrate, which is the company now handling our training and customer administration.  We were also invited to be on a customer panel during the conference, which we will discuss further below.  What attracted us to the LITE conference was the ability to learn more about the Administrate program and meet others who are using the program.  Not only did the conference and workshops deliver on that goal, it far exceeded our expectations.  Several of the conference speakers were absolutely inspiring and made us realize the good work being done out there to assist those less fortunate.

The Scotsman Newspaper Article LITE 2016 
Day one of the conference started with Mike McGrail (@Mike_McGrail), Marketing Director for Administrate, doing the opening and introduction.  We met Mr. McGrail previously, when we first were considering to sign-up with Administrate, we met with him and our current rep Natasha Serafimovska and then met again at a cocktail/dinner party held for those presenting and on the customer panels at Brasserie Les Amis (the food was awesome!).  Mr. McGrail is quite entertaining and very proud of his Scottish heritage (yes, he wore a kilt!).  The first speaker was Gavin Oattes, MD of Tree of Knowledge, his presentation "How do you Fit a Giraffe in a Fridge?" really was mind opening and created a pathway for a different frame of reference.  Nicki Turing & Edmund Pinto, of the Alan Turing Trust, discussed how providing used computers are helping educate students in Ghana.  Joe Harb, of Interactive Life, discussed "Personalised Education Using Technology:  From Corporate to Refugees" and how to personalize education for corporations to help expand borders and for refugees who feel left behind.  John Bendel, of Lingo 24, discussing "The Need for a Multi-language Approach" and the importance of training materials to be in multiple languages (only 9% of the world speaks English, something to really consider as a training business).  The first customer panel included Deborah Fyfe of IA Seminars, Kevin Streater of ForgeRock, & Mathew Channell of Training South Wales, and was moderated by Richard Cassidy, Director Sales for Administrate.  The panel discussed the challenges in their training business and how technology was bringing success to their businesses.  Mike McQuaid of GitHub, spoke on "Remote Working: What, Why and How?"  His speech described the various benefits of working remotely; productivity increase, happy employees, & saving the planet to name a few.  John Peebles the CEO of Administrate spoke on "Creating the Ultimate Human Organisation" and discussed how they have gone to a 4-day work week.  The final speaker on the first day was John Romero, Creator of Legendary Video Games, who spoke on "The Value of Games in Education."  The day ended with a Pub Crawl (our crawl included The Blind Poet, the Potting Shed, and the BeeHive Inn) that ended at Administrate HQ (drinks & pizza!).  The lunch was catered by Regis Banqueting and it was fantastic, we had the Lamb Tangine!  We went to several workshops and support sessions also being held during the conference.

John Romero Speaking at LITE 2016
Day two started with Olivia Giles of 500 Miles, telling us her story of how she had to face change in her speech "The Challenges and Opportunities of Change."  Olivia Giles survived the blood poisoning form of meningitis by having both her lower legs and both her lower arms amputated.  She has since founded the charity 500 Miles which helps disabled people in Malawi & Zambia who have lost limbs or the use of limbs to enjoy maximum mobility and body function by helping them gain access to artificial limbs and limbs supports.  If we weren't already inspired from the first day of speeches, this speech sent us over the top!  Kevin Streater of ForgeRock had the unenviable task of following Olivia Giles and did an excellent job of maintaining the enthusiasm with "How Administrate Changed Our Training Business."  Definitely caught our attention with the ability to triple his business without increasing staff.  Suzanna Doyle-Morris of inclusIQ, discussing how they use blended learning to train people on inclusion & diversity, was the next speaker.  Mike McGrail of Administrate next discussed "The Importance of Personas in Understanding Your Customer" and how that effects marketing.  Up next was Dr. Kathryn Waite of Heriot-Watt University speaking on "Digital Empowerment."  Next we had the honor and pleasure to sit on a customer panel with Anna Hastie of University of York, and Steve Booker of Kentec Training (his company's story on Administrate convinced us to sign up).  Visit the LITE 2016 Speakers site to see the customer panel we were on and our discussion about our challenges and technology.  After the panel, Kasper Spiro of Easygenerator spoke on "User Generated Content: The Next Trend" and the conference ended with an inspirational talk "Reaching for the Stars" by Graham Obree - Record Breaking Cycling Legend.

Graham Obree Speaking at LITE 2016
Their were several emotions we experienced during this conference; overwhelmed, amazement, excited, hopeful, inspiration, and empowered.  The main thing this conference did for us was made us realize how powerful a tool the Administrate program is.  We are hopeful & overwhelmed with the capabilities of this program.  We are excited and amazed on the value we could add to our customers training experience.  Most importantly we feel this program will empower and inspire us with the ability to increase our business, increase our reach to more customers outside our current territory, and Keeping More of Your Employees Safe!
        
LITE 2016 was held at The Assembly Roxy  

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Carl Potter's Safety Code of Conduct

Scaffolding improperly installed missing mud sills, etc.
Mr. Carl Potter is a safety speaker and his website is an excellant resource for information regarding occupational safety and health.  We have received many of his articles and writings, and have always found them informative.  To emphasize this point, please click on the title above to read his latest post regarding setting up a Safety Code of Conduct and the reason why employees typically don't follow safety rules.  Our experience and discussions with many of you, has led us to the same conclusions.  We agree with Mr. Potter come up with your own Safety Code of Conduct and decide to be safe when performing your work.  
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Saturday, September 11, 2010

Long Overdue Increase in OSHA Inspections

Construction Sign Postings in Rome, Italy.  Workers are required to  wear gloves, hard hat, work boots, and a full body harness on this work site.

14 deaths per day is the statistics of the day.  How can the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) consider itself successful with a statistic like that?  It is long overdue for OSHA to increase the number of inspections and the number of violations it issues.  There are companies who have never seen an OSHA inspection and they have been in business for over 50 years.  We did a training class where one worker had caustic burns on his hands and three workers were diagnosed with silicosis.  The company had never been inspected by OSHA.  Until OSHA actually gets serious about performing the number of inspections necessary to  prevent injuries, statistics such as 14 deaths per day will continue to be common place.  The link shows a video of a worker for Cintas, handling the clearing of a blockage the way he was taught to clear blockage.  Though the company says it didn't know this was going on, the question is how did they think the blockage was being cleared considering they did not teach the workers a different procedure to clear the blockage.  Again another situation where the accident could have been prevented and the life of a worker saved.
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That Time of Year! Conferences, Posting Requirements, and OSHA Violations Increased!

It's that time of year again. We're between conferences.  February 15-16, 2024 was the Professional Abatement Contractors of New Yor...