Training Sessions for Occupational Safety

Citation

Lewis, A. (1999), "Training Sessions for Occupational Safety", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 120-120. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.1999.31.3.120.1

Training Sessions for Occupational Safety is published as a loose‐leaf binder containing a formidable 516 pages.

The collection is designed to provide staff at all levels with a thorough grounding in the principles of occupational safety. To this end, the manual contains good general guidance for a trainer on preparation for and running a session on any one of the 17 topics. This is supplemented by hard copies of visual aids and handout material. The emphasis is on the practical application of safety principles in the environment in which the individuals work. This is achieved by encouraging discussion sessions and group tasks. It is this interactive approach that is quite time‐hungry and means each session would amply fill half a day.

Quite thoughtfully, the authors have, in the Appendix, provided tests and model answer sheets which could be used to measure the knowledge gained by the participants.

The 17 training sessions cover basic workplace safety, fire safety, risk assessment, lifting, VDUs, office safety, accidents, audit and improving safety, health and safety law, communications and more.

Each session follows a similar format, spelling out the preparation required, agenda for the session with timings, session notes, as well as supporting OHP slides and handouts.

My verdict? Technically sound in the approach; however, do not expect to hurriedly pull this one off the shelf and deliver your training without quite a lot of customization. The OHP slides are generally full of bullet points and visually unexciting. The same can be said for the handouts which would benefit from some graphics. Another point to consider is the range of organizational levels this has been designed to cover. With such a wide target audience, the sessions (and materials) will need major revisions before use. What a shame the information is not provided electronically in standard word‐processing and presentation software format to make the trainer’s life easier.

In summary, a useful publication to build your own training around but, if you intend to simply photocopy the OHPs and handouts, be prepared for the audience to complain of “death by a thousand bullet points”.