Safety Online Training: 8 Common Mistakes To Avoid
One of the most crucial compliance training topics is safety in the workplace. It helps to reduce on-the-job injuries that can forever alter the lives of your employees. Not to mention, cost your company countless resources, as you’ll have to foot the bill for medical expenses, workers’ compensation, and employee replacements. Fortunately, successful safety online training can reduce the risk and keep your employees in the know about workplace protocols. Here are 8 common mistakes to steer clear of when creating safety online training courses.
1. Failing To Emphasize The Benefits Of Safety Online Training
Safety online training offers employees a number of benefits, such as ensuring the well-being of your staff and customers or reducing operational costs so that you can invest those resources in other employee enrichment programs. However, your corporate learners may not be aware of these advantages. Thus, they don’t actively participate in the safety online training course because there’s simply nothing in it for them. This is why it’s so crucial to emphasize the benefits up front and tie them into practical uses. Specify why they should complete the safety online training and how it will help them in the workplace.
2. Not Keeping It Real!
Employees need to know how to apply their safety online training in the real world. It’s not about memorizing rules or protocols, but using the information to improve work practices. For this reason, you have to give employees opportunities to experience the real-life applications firsthand. This may be in the form of online training simulations, real-world examples, or case studies that help them put everything into context. It’s also crucial to assess your employees beforehand in order to create more realistic and relatable online training content. For example, stories that feature online training characters or challenges they’re already familiar with.
3. Forgetting About Moment Of Need Support
Safety online training shouldn’t be reserved for onboarding online training or yearly re-certifications. It should be an ongoing process that provides moment of need support to reinforce the main points. For example, a microlearning online training repository that features a few online training tutorials or activities for every safety topic, or groups online training materials by department so that employees can quickly refresh their memory.
4. Providing Outdated Or Irrelevant Online Training Content
There’s always room to improve. Especially when you discover new ways to safeguard employees and reduce work-related injuries. Evaluate your safety online training course on a regular basis to ensure it’s up to date and reflects your new policies. You should also consider the local/federal regulations that recently went into effect. Stale safety online training content could lead to expensive penalties if you’re audited.
5. Including Text Walls In Your eLearning Course Design
There’s really no room for lengthy text blocks in any online training course. However, they can be particularly hindersome in safety online training. Employees usually see a wall of text and immediately switch off. Those who do make an attempt typically suffer from cognitive overload, meaning that they are unable to assimilate the information. Furthermore, text blocks aren’t the most interactive or engaging approach. For this reason, it’s best to incorporate multimedia elements that improve content comprehension and knowledge retention. Video demos, online training tutorials, and serious games allow employees to get the information they need without boring them to tears. They also help to outsmart the forgetting curve by rooting visual reminders into corporate learners’ mental schema.
6. Not Inviting Employee Feedback
Most people avoid criticism at all costs. They don’t like to hear that their online training course is inadequate or dull. As a result, these individuals don’t solicit feedback from their target audience and simply choose to remain in the dark about their areas for improvement. However, employee feedback gives you the ability to adjust your approach and develop more personalized online training resources. Conduct online surveys, polls, interviews, and focus groups to get employee input. Online assessments are also a great way to gather concrete data that you can use to improve your online training strategy. For example, a high percentage of your employees are unable to pass the workplace hazard exam. This indicates that the related online training modules or activities require a closer look. You may need to incorporate more real-world interactivity or break up the text blocks.
7. Mistaking ‘Mandatory’ For ‘Memorable’
The fact that safety online training is mandatory for employees doesn’t make it more memorable or engaging. It’s true that most people understand the significance of safety online training. But do they remember everything they learned, or simply brush it off as obligatory training they’ll never use? You have to create engaging safety online training courses that capture their attention and help employees relate to the situation. For example, include real-world examples or stories that create an emotional connection.
8. Missing Out On Mistake-Driven Learning Opportunities
The time for employees to make mistakes is during online training, not in the middle of a busy work day when it risks the safety of their co-workers or puts customers in danger. Incorporate online training simulations and branching scenarios that give employees the chance to learn from their mistakes and highlight knowledge gaps. Mistake-driven learning also involves immediate feedback. Identify areas for improvement and provide employees with additional online training resources they need to fill the gap.
Safety online training is essential for every industry and job title. Even positions that may not seem hazardous involve some degree of risk. For example, customer service associates should know the protocols for evacuating the building in the event of a fire. As such, you can use these 8 tips to keep every member of your team safe and secure in the workplace.
What is the best way to impart real-world experience in your safety online training so that employees are ready for every eventuality? Read the article Safety First: 7 Tips To Use Simulations For Health And Safety Online Training to discover 7 top tips for using simulations in your health and safety online training.
