When I train team members in hazard identification and risk assessments, the students are usually a general representation of who you would find out on the floor as pickers and forklift drivers: some older generation, maybe some women, and quite a few men in their 20s and 30s. Some of the learners are Aussies but I will also find that I will have a good number of Kiwis and a smattering of people of other nationalities.
Just like the audience for Picture Process Maps <click for blog post here>, these team members generally do not enjoy sitting in the classroom for extended periods of time and can find learning the theory about hazard identification and risk assessments to be <dare I say it out loud?> boring.
And I have to say, I agree with them! So I like to mix it up a little.
First of all, I cover off the definition of a hazard (something that has the potential to cause harm). We talk about examples of hazards in the team’s workplace and ways to control these hazards.
At this stage, I would anticipate that the team are responding to an extent and not just sitting silent in their seats. So I take the opportunity to ask them, "Who thinks that they are a visual learner?" A significant ratio of hands go up and I am always pleased when there are a number of younger learners (but more on this later).
Then I ask, “Who’s heard of the Sydney Skinny?” to which there is usually no answer. I give them a low-down of the Sydney Skinny -- a 300metre or 900metre nude swim at Sydney. I tell the team members how I swam this event in 2017 after not learning to swim properly when I grew up, how I was anxious about being in the ocean and that I suffered motion sickness to such an extent that I couldn't lie in a hammock. I give examples of what I did to prepare for the Skinny: swimming lessons, trial runs in the ocean with a trainer and seeing an optometrist to get rid of my motion sickness.<click for blog post here>
So here I am standing right in front of the team members, a woman in her 40s, telling them about how I swam in the nude, in public, with a whole lot of other nude people. It is just messing with the brains of those visual learners!
While the team’s energy levels are up and their retinas are burning, I introduce the concept of the risk matrix.
I ask the team members what do they think the hazards are with me swimming the Sydney Skinny? “Drowning” is the most common response.
This is where I go back to the risk matrix and ask the team members what they think is the Severity of drowning? (Hint: the answer is “Catastrophic”.)
I then ask what is the Likelihood of such an event? Sometimes the response will be “Very Likely” and I need to remind them that I put controls in place such as swimming lessons and did trial swims in the ocean. There was also a support crew at the event, including boats shadowing the swimmers. This downgrades the Likelihood to “Very unlikely”.
I tell the team members that I felt the biggest risk while swimming the Sydney Skinny was not drowning, but having to be rescued in the nude by the support crew’s boat.
What do they grab on to, to get me into the boat?
What sort of positions am I going to be put in?
What are they going to see?
At this stage, the visual learners are covering their eyes, moaning and groaning!
We look at the risk matrix and rating for me having to be saved by a support crew boat.
Following the hierarchy of controls, we determine the control measures that can be put in place to eliminate or mitigate this hazard. We re-calculate the risk rating of the hazard with these control measures being implemented. We discuss the possibility of additional hazards created from the introduction of the control measures and the importance of closing the loop by signing off when the risk assessment has been completed.
To cement their learnings, the team members identify a hazard and complete a risk assessment on their own or in a group.
By engaging team members and training in an auditory, visual and kinaesthetic manner to a real life example, I find that the team get much better outcomes from their learning experience.
Do you need more your team trained in a way that they will actually remember the material? Give me a call on 0400 903 885.