As a safety trainer, my mission is to help you be the best safety dudes on the planet, helping you effectively communicate through good training so that you have the best safety training program for your organization. Effective safety training for adults is built on the 4 Laws of Adult Training, one of which is, “Those Who Do, Learn.” Using applied active strategies can make your safety training more effective.
Listen to my video clip to learn more about using applied active strategies as an effective way to do safety training.
Why use applied active strategies in your safety training?
First, let’s define applied active strategies. This means that 100% of the participants are involved at the same time. While games may be one strategy, there are many ways to incorporate this effectively into your safety training. Think-Pair-Share is just one example:
Think-Pair-Share. Participants think individually about a question or idea, pair up with someone to discuss and then share their conversation with their table group or the whole group.
Active learning means participants engage with the material, participate in the training and collaborate with each other. Simply listening and memorizing doesn’t help them to retain and therefore apply. Participants learn more when they engage and participate
You may think that conducting a safety training that is strictly lecture-oriented is a more efficient way to cover safety content; however, it isn’t the most effective way to train.
- Listening to a lecture does not promote deep and lasting learning. It basically involves the transfer of information from the notes of the trainer to the notes of the participant.
- Lectures tend to promote daydreaming or casual attendance to the person speaking.
- Participants get distracted by phones, iPads, text or email messaging.
- Participant concentration levels start to decline after 10-15 minutes.
It is true that you may not be able to cover as much content by using applied active strategies; however, participants tend to retain the information so that they are able to apply it when they return to their job. Applied active strategies tend to:
- Engage participants in thinking critically or creatively
- Encourage speaking with a partner, in a small group or with the whole class
- Increase participants’ enthusiasm for learning the material
So, as you are planning your safety training, look for and plan for how you can use applied active strategies. The key is learning how to be purposeful when introducing these strategies into your training.
Remember, one of the laws of adult training is, “Those Who Do, Learn.” Applied active strategies can help them “do” so that they “learn.”
Train the Trainer
I am an OSHA-authorized trainer who also has expertise in training trainers. I focus on training safety trainers, giving practical, applicable and usable ways to help you ensure others “get” what they need to get.
As a safety trainer for your organization, your role is to facilitate the learning of others and be a resource of information. And, if your company is going to invest the time and money in having their own employees do the training, you need to be as effective as possible.
Find more information about developing effective communication strategies in my other “Train the Trainer” blog posts.