Reprinted from Grain Journal September/October 2016 Issue
Pete Trotter | Safety Manager | FS Grain | Morris, IL
“I have to say the first and probably most valuable training mechanism that I use is to have the students train themselves. By that I mean, if you can get them engaged and involved enough in the training activity that they’re actually volunteering to do things, they will learn a lot more.
“For example, the discussion I was having this morning at this elevator involved the facility manager and the assistant manager regarding an injury in the situation of a slip and fall. I was trying to impress on them the importance of reporting near misses.
“The way it came across, the guy actually started talking to me about a near miss on his own in the training that we were doing. It was really effective, because he heard both what I was saying and thinking, and he was actively engaged in the discussion. He’s actually going to continue thinking about it. It’ll be more memorable for him later on.
“The second mechanism that I try to use is training entirely with YouTube videos. Some of the best training I’ve seen about grain dust explosions has been people talking about it on YouTube. Using YouTube or other video tools just breaks up the training, makes it more interesting and gripping, and you can do a lot with it.
“If you give them a typical hour-long video, you’re going to have some of them go to sleep. If you talk for 15 or 20 minutes, and you intersperse five YouTube videos, they’re going to be awake the whole time.”
Butch Hendrix | Safety Director | Kokomo Grain Co. Inc. | Kokomo, IN
“When I train our employees, I try to use a classroom-style approach with PowerPoint presentations that includes pictures I take at our locations. The presentation is based on our operations. After that, I go out to operations area to do any hands on activities such as lockout/tagout, confined space operations, bin entry, etc.
“While doing the training with our employees, I also engage them in a two-way conversation. I’ll ask questions about how they do certain tasks or operations that help to develop written programs and training. This approach usually gets more of the employees talking about safer ways of doing things. It seems to help newer employees get adjusted to recognizing the hazards they will be exposed to, and how to avoid injury as they relate to different hazards in facility operations.
“I believe one of the most successful things I do during training is to conduct the training on their turf, out in the shop or the employee breakroom, etc. I don’t always bring them into the office conference room where sometimes they feel uncomfortable.”
Hans McDonald | EHS Manager | Lansing Trade Group | Overland Park, KS
“I focus on three different areas. First, for me, training has always been to convey information to keep people safe and to keep our facilities operating safely and efficiently. Most importantly, training is about developing our Lansing culture. You hear that word kicked around a lot, but to me, culture means what people are doing when you’re not watching. What are they really remembering, and what are they really doing, when the boss isn’t watching?
“Two training methods that have really worked well for me over the years is first, group discussions. I know that can tend to make people a bit uncomfortable, but take the time to sit down as a group with both seasonal and full-time employees at the same time. Everybody is sitting down, discussing, and making sure that we are understanding how a particular training requirement is applied to each specific site and each specific employee at that location. I think the notion of a group discussion is one training method that has worked very well.
“The second area is performance observation. Whether it’s after classroom training or after hands-on training, it’s actually taking the time to observe how that employee is performing the task. Make sure that they’re following through and doing things according to how you trained them. Without that, you can’t confirm whether they need additional training or whether they’re developing and improving that culture.”
Trevor Keating | Safety Director | Prairie Ag Partners | Lake Preston, SD
“I see the best results with hands-on safety training. Employees seem to understand their training faster, when they physically go through the process of filling out paperwork, using safety equipment, and performing a lockout/tagout. This also forces the employees to be more interactive during training, which makes them comfortable enough to ask more questions than in a classroom setting. Classroom training is definitely needed, but hands-on training shows better results.”
Larry Hoekstra | Safety Director | Farmers Coop Society | Sioux Center, IA
“Decentralize employee safety training by holding location supervisors accountable for conducting employee training. Supervisors have the working relationship with the employees who report to them. That makes them more effective in conducting the training and creating team accountability.
“As a result, employees engage each other in working safely and become a cohesive team watching out for the safety of others in their workgroup.”
Andrew Hanes | Safety Manager | Topflight Grain Cooperative | Cisco, IL
“Where possible, using hands-on training for different scenarios provides us with an approach where our staff can work through different cases and know what it feels and looks like to do something correctly and safely.
“Being able to utilize our employees and their knowledge is a great way to promote safety training. We can use past experiences – either good or bad – and learn how best to move forward. In pairing more experienced workers with those new to the job, we can learn how the past makes us better while also learning how the new can bring issues to light.”
Rebecca Fenton | Safety Director | Triangle/Aurora Coop | Aurora, NE
“The most effective method I have found is hands-on training. Working alongside employees and showing them exactly what you’re expecting generally helps them grasp it a little bit better.What I have found to be the most effective in the industry that I’m in now is classroom-type training followed by hands-on.
“For example, we would start in a classroom and I would go over things like, ‘Here’s what’s going on, here’s what we expect of you, here are our policies, and here is how we want you to handle these things.’
“Then, when the opportunity presents itself, go out with those employees and do it with them, take that opportunity to be involved with them in the projects. Not only does it help them grasp the concepts, but it also helps them to understand that we’re here to help you with safety.
“We’re not the enemy. We’re here to work with you. Sometimes when you go out and work with them, you get the opportunity to experience some of the trials and tribulations that they have with regard to some policies, and you can improve upon those policies, procedures, and training methods.
“Also, there are so many different ways people learn. Some people are universal learners, some people read it, some people have to listen to it, some people have to do it. Giving them all these options – so where they can learn it in the way that suits them best – is usually the best way of doing it.”
Jim Mendlik | Operations and Safety Manager | West Plains, LLC | Omaha, NE
“One of the things we do is to get all of the employees involved in the safety meeting discussions. What we’ve seen in the past is one or two people dominate the discussion, and you’re not sure if you’re getting through to the rest of them. I try to include a different employee each month and have that employee help out with that month’s safety presentation as well as any hands-on demonstrations. That way, we get everybody involved.
“We also really stress the value of watching out for the safety of others. Explain to them that just being unsafe yourself could have a huge impact on the safety of your coworkers.
“One of the other things we do is try to get employee ownership through continual training and explaining what the expectations are – not just how to do a job, but how it all fits in the big picture.”
Dwight Nelson | Safety Director | Wheaton Dumont Coop Elevator | Wheaton, MN
“When we do training, I like to have smaller groups of 12 at a time. Then I will break the group into three tables of four, and that way they can work together, and we can have discussion between tables about how they answered questions and any ideas they have to improve the way we do things.
“I usually write a two- to three-paragraph scenario about one of our facilities and a problem that could arise. Then I will write three to six questions about what happened in the scenario, and we have a discussion about their ideas and answers. I have them explain why they gave that answer, and sometimes we come up with changes for the way things get done at those facilities. We talk about planning ahead for problems and being prepared for an emergency.
This, I think, helps tremendously with retention and getting them to think about safety on a daily basis.
“Involving everyone in the room is better than watching a training film and answering true or false and multiple choice questions that they all forget an hour after training.
“I write all my own tests and scenarios and make them about our company and what we do here. I always try to make safety training personal, and we talk about how it affects family, coworkers, and communities. I always close with the way I sign my e-mails: ‘Enjoy Tomorrow by Working Safely.’”