Picture this: as part of your Chain of Responsibility compliance, you bring your team in for some refresher training on load restraint. Parts of the training are materials that your team need to read. How quickly do you think that they go from reading, "Loads must be restrained to prevent movement...." to zzzzzzzzz?
Sure, you will get sign off that they have read and understood the training so you have met that compliance goal, but how effective do you think they will be in retaining the information to actually perform the job?
This is a Case Study on how a company introduced Picture Process Maps to effectively document and train on load restraint.
The Widget Company
The Widget Company's business model was that they warehouse and distribute a multitude of products with varying weights and dimensions to their customers throughout Queensland. The picking and packing process was complex as the products were stacked onto pallets, crated or loaded directly onto the trailers.
Third party transport providers were engaged who, due to the nature of The Widget Company's products, needed to use flat top trailers. The Widget Company's team members and the truck driver worked together to load the product onto the trailers. This process could risk CoR breaches as some of The Widget Company's team members were uncertain in how to load and help restrain some of the products.
The education level of The Widget Company's pickers, packers and forklift drivers did not exceed high school level. The team members preferred physical work, disliking what they perceived as excessive paperwork. They thought that written procedures could be boring and difficult to understand.
There was no documentation of correct load restraint procedures. Team members were trained by word-of-mouth from other team members but, as some worked infrequently in despatch, had difficulty retaining the information. This led to decreased productivity, potential for incorrectly restrained loads and a concentration of skills to a limited number of team members.
During a Chain of Responsibility audit, it was identified that there was a lack of documented load restraint procedures and training. There was an opportunity to reduce risk and increase compliance by creating training materials and procedures that were understood by the team members. With the complexity of the SKUs and the team members' preference towards practical solutions, it was determined that implementing Picture Process Maps were the best option.
Picture Process Maps
Picture Process Maps is a format that combines pictures and text to visually demonstrate a standard operting procedure. They tap into the old saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words", and can be particularly effective with team members whose
learning style is more geared towards visual methods
primary language is not English
literacy is challenged overall.
The steps in creating Picture Process Maps:
Select the process to be documented.
Detail any safety hazards and resources required.
Breakdown the process.
Verify that the Picture Process Map is correct.
Implement document control.
Add it to the training materials and matrix.
What happened at The Widget Company?
The process of creating the Picture Process Maps was an opportunity to naturally increase the dialogue and awareness about Chain of Responsibility in the team members' work environment. It generated a degree of interest in the workplace: there was the novelty of photos being taken of load restraint activities and questions being asked of them to verify the correct information.
Once the PPMs were finalised, A4 versions were printed for training and added to the training matrix. The flow-on benefits to the PPMs was an improvement in
team member engagement
truck turnaround times
load restraint quality
cross-trained team members.
The sense of ownership of the Picture Process Maps was further demonstrated by the team members deciding to increase the size to A3 and laminating them, effectively creating their own safety signs for display in despatch and as a tool to communicate the expected standards to the truck drivers.