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Showing posts with label environmental training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environmental 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, February 01, 2020

Nassau County's Environmental Hazard Remediation Contractors License Added to Nassau County Fire Prevention Ordinance

In our mold refresher courses, we've been discussing the 2016 edition of the Nassau County Fire Prevention Ordinance.  This Ordinance now requires businesses that provide board-up services and restoration services must be licensed with the Nassau County Fire Marshall.  The Fire Prevention Ordinance defines restoration services as the act of cleaning or restoring a residential or commercial building damaged by fire, flood, hurricane, storm or other emergency events.  The Nassau County Fire Marshall charges a fee to be licensed, however, if a business has a home improvement or environmental hazard remediation contractors license issued by Nassau County Department of Consumer Affairs are still required to have the Fire Marshall License but are exempt from paying the fee.
   
Fire Restoration Companies Must Be Licensed with the Nassau County Fire Marshall
If you are wondering what is an Environmental Hazard Remediation Contractor license?  This is a license created by Nassau County Local Law No. 13-2014 that requires "Licensing of Environmental Hazard Remediation Providers" or in other words environmental contractors.  However, environmental contractors are defined as "any person who or legal entity that, contracts with an owner or an owner's agent to inspect a suspected environmental hazard or to implement any measure or measures that result in the remediation of an environmental hazard in a building."  This definition means both consultants and contractors have to be licensed.  Even more amazing is the definition of Environmental hazard.  "Environmental hazard(s) means any condition that constitutes an indoor air quality violation as defined by any United States statute or regulation, any New York State Law or regulation, any local law or any regulation promulgated by the Commissioner of Consumer Affairs, and which hazard was caused by fire, flood, storm, chemical spills, dust, sewage, mold, pathogens or other biological contaminants and not caused by the presence of asbestos or lead."  Not totally sure what isn't covered, under this definition.  

Flood Damage & Mold are Environmental Hazards under Local Law 13-2014
The Local Law 13-2014 requires two licenses, environmental contractors have to get the Environmental Hazard Remediation Provider (EHRP) License ($1,300 for a two-year license, renewal fee is $500 every two years) and the Environmental Hazard Remediation Technician (EHRT) License ($110 for two-year license, every two years).  The EHRT shall be issued to an EHRP or their principal(s) and any person employed by, seeking employment by or under contract to a EHRP for the purpose of environmental hazard assessment and environmental hazard remediation.  It does allow an EHRT to supervise up to 10 unlicensed employees or contractors performing remediation or remediations.  To get the EHRT license the applicant must show proof that they have taken the following courses:
  • OSHA Safety Standards for Construction or General Industry - a minimum of 10 hours
  • NYS Asbestos Handler - a minimum of 32 hours
  • EPA Lead Worker - a minimum of 16 hours.  Lead RRP is NOT sufficient
  • Hazardous Waste Operations (HAZWOPER) - a minimum of 40 hours
  • Microbial Remediation - a minimum of 24 hours
  • Water damage restoration - minimum 20 hours or Institute of Inspection, Cleaning Restoration Certification (IICRC) WRT Certification
  • Fire damage restoration - a minimum of 16 hours or IICRC FSRT Certification
  • PCB Awareness - a minimum of 4 hours
  • Bloodborne pathogens - a minimum of 4 hours
  • Infection control risk assessment - a minimum of 4 hours
  • Proof of a valid lead and asbestos abatement licenses.
170 hours of training, is a lot of training!
The above list consists of 170 hours of training.  It is interesting to note to get an asbestos abatement license you need to take an NYS asbestos supervisor - a minimum of 40 hours and to get the EPA Lead Remediation License you must be an EPA lead supervisor - a minimum of 32 hours.  Nowhere in this list of topics is a supervisor course, considering that the EHRT will be allowed to supervise up to 10 unlicensed employees/contractors that seem very lacking.  In addition, there is no assessment class in this list.  Most of us in the industry would agree that this list should be the minimum training for the remediation workers in the restoration/remediation industry.  This list should not be the training requirements for the principals/supervising employees of an EHRP.  In our opinion, EHRP principals/supervising employees should have a minimum certification from American Council for Accredited Certifications, American Board of Industrial Hygiene, Board of Certified Safety Professionals, or another national, non-profit certifying body which:  
In addition, the Local Law does not address the conflict of interest issues that arise from these types of projects.  In our opinion, the local law should have this language to address conflicts of interest:
  • Individuals or legal entities shall not conduct environmental assessments for a period of one year on projects for which they have conducted environmental remediation services.
  • Individuals or legal entities shall not conduct environmental remediations for a period of one year on projects for which they have conducted environmental assessments.

We have written to our representative on the Nassau County Legislature (click on the link to see our letter) and have not gotten very far.  We suspect that is because we are only one voice and we need the industry to write to the legislature to get some traction on this.  We plan on sending another version of this letter in the next week or two.  We may not all agree on what changes need to be made, but we all agree that it needs to change.  Under the current version, very few contractors and no consultants would become license under this local law.

Related Articles:

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Save The Date For PACNY's 15th Annual Environmental Conference

Table-level view of live poker at Turning StoneImage via Wikipedia
Table-level view of Live Poker at Turning Stone.
The Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) has announced a save the date of March 10th & 11th, 2011 at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, NY for their 15th Annual Environmental Conference.  Visit their website at: http://www.pacny.org/conferences.asp for conference and sponsorship information.  This annual event is always a pleasure to start the year off.  See our previous posts regarding our attendance at past events.  We look forward to seeing you there.
2010 Environmental Conference
2009 Environmental Conference
2008 Environmental Conference
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Thursday, January 20, 2011

EPA Removes Saccharin As A Hazardous Waste

2D structure of artificial sweetener saccharin
Saccharin 2-D Formula
In December, 2010 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amended its regulations regarding saccharin as a hazardous waste.  Saccharin, an artificial sweetener in the form of a white crystalline powder, is 300 times sweeter than sucrose or sugar.  It is typically an ingredient in diet soft drinks, juices, sweets, and chewing gum.  Saccharin can also be found in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
EPA amended its regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to remove saccharin and its salts from the lists of hazardous constituents and commercial chemical products which are hazardous wastes when discarded or intended to be discarded.  In addition, EPA amended the regulations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) to remove saccharin and its salts from the list of hazardous substances.  EPA responded to a petition submitted by the Calorie Control Council (CCC) to remove saccharin and its salts from RCRA and CERCLA, EPA will no longer list these substances as hazardous on the above mentioned lists.  EPA granted CCC’s petition based on a review of the evaluations conducted by key public health agencies concerning the carcinogenic and other potential toxicological effects of saccharin and its salts.  In addition, EPA assessed the waste generation and management information for saccharin and its salts, concluding that the wastes do not meet the criteria for hazardous waste regulations.
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Thursday, December 16, 2010

EPA Reports a Successful Year Enforcing Environmental Law

The headquarters of the United States Environm...Image via WikipediaThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency posted information illustrating its very successful past year in enforcing environmental law.  In the past federal fiscal year, which ran from October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010, the Agency took actions that reduced pollution and ensured that environmental laws are being followed.  In the past fiscal year, EPA took enforcement and compliance actions in New York State that require polluters to pay nearly $2 million in penalties and take actions that will result in the reduction of more than 41 million pounds of pollution.

Detailed information about EPA’s enforcement of environmental laws can be viewed using an interactive Web-based tool that includes statistics and highlights on a state-by-state basis. The website also includes a map that provides the public with detailed information about the enforcement actions taken at more than 4,500 facilities throughout the U.S, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Island.

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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...