{"id":357,"date":"2012-08-29T05:03:59","date_gmt":"2012-08-29T09:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ehscsi.com\/?p=357"},"modified":"2017-12-10T23:21:23","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T04:21:23","slug":"six-competence-boosting-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/2012\/08\/29\/six-competence-boosting-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Competence Boosting Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ehs<\/a>The last thing most companies should want is to waste hundreds, possibly thousands, of hours and dollars; yet when we consider the ineffectiveness of most training that is exactly what occurs. \u00a0The question we must consider is: “are the employees competent?” \u00a0Are they able to perform the job or task in a way that meets the regulatory requirements and reduces hazards once the training is completed?<\/p>\n

There are an overwhelming number of trainings required for environmental, health and\u00a0safety (EHS) compliance.\u00a0 In my\u00a0previous article<\/a>\u00a0I mentioned having identified over twenty unique EHS trainings for a client in a relatively low-hazard industry. \u00a0Unfortunately many companies or leaders do not understand and therefore do not invest in competence. \u00a0Their primary objective in training is often simply compliance, but if employees are unable to properly execute the job function the training is a waste. \u00a0 Ineffective training not only wastes the resources of time and money, but can also lead to non-compliances or worse yet, serious or deadly workplace injuries. \u00a0 Listed below are some of my favorite competence enhancing strategies:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Identify the audience<\/strong>.\u00a0 Nothing is worse than attending a training that is irrelevant to your job function so it is important to begin with the proper identification of the employees who should attend the training.\u00a0 This can be done a number of ways but I prefer using a training needs assessment or job hazard analysis.<\/li>\n
  2. Case Studies.<\/strong>\u00a0 Another competence booster is the inclusion of case studies.\u00a0 These can be examples from previous or current employers, near-miss situations, or videos of actual events followed by a discussion of how the situations could have been avoided or corrected.\u00a0 The Occupational Safety & Health Administration<\/a>, Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>, Chemical Safety Board<\/a> and Department of Transportation<\/a> have prepared case studies and frequently publish violations resulting in fines, injuries, chemical incidents and\/or fires that can increase training effectiveness when incorporated.<\/li>\n
  3. Hands On Practice.<\/strong> \u00a0One of the best ways to increase competence is to require attendees to perform the function to which they are being trained in a no pressure setting.\u00a0\u00a0 A practical exercise is a perfect follow up to case studies that have reviewed the implementation of the required task or job.\u00a0 If employees are required to classify waste, label drums, perform lockout tagout (LOTO) procedures, or some other task(s) critical to facility compliance they should be given the opportunity to perform the task in a training environment.<\/li>\n
  4. Include the unexpected.<\/strong>\u00a0 Training should not only include normal operating processes it must also address the \u201chow-to\u201d of foreseeable unplanned events.\u00a0 This not only gets attendees thinking critically but is also a time to incorporate discussion\u2014potential hazards, non-compliances or unproductive or unsafe processes are often identified during this time.<\/li>\n
  5. FAQs<\/strong>. \u00a0Following a training session, the presenter typically asks \u201cany questions?\u201d often there are not any.\u00a0 Instead of waiting for participants to ask me questions I often ask them questions. \u00a0My approach does not normally include a written assessment but rather open-ended questions during the presentation that foster discussion and give insight into the attendees absorption of the material. \u00a0Another method for incorporating FAQs is to provide attendes with a handout to which they can refer after the training is completed.<\/li>\n
  6. Validate<\/strong>.\u00a0 Is the training accomplishing its intended purpose? The only was this can be determined is to assess the attendees in some fashion. \u00a0My preferred method is to perform this strategically throughout the class with the FAQs mentioned in number 5.\u00a0 If ongoing assessment is conducted then it is possible to salvage a training that may not be meeting the objectives for which it was designed.\u00a0 It can also be performed at the end of the class, however this doesn\u2019t give the feedback necessary to make modifications during the class.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    Is competence something your organization is concerned with? \u00a0Including these tips can increase training effectiveness, retention of information and competence. \u00a0How do you manage to increase competence? \u00a0Share a comment or ask a question below.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The last thing most companies should want is to waste hundreds, possibly thousands, of hours and dollars; yet when we consider the ineffectiveness of most training that is exactly what occurs. \u00a0The question we must consider is: “are the employees competent?” \u00a0Are they able to perform the job or task in a way that meets…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[110,80,63,42,43,109],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ehs-training-2","tag-csb","tag-dot","tag-ehs-compliance-2","tag-epa","tag-osha","tag-training-increasing-competence-training-effectiveness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":757,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions\/757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ehscsi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}