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How important is the national standards in the training sector?

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Question added by Abdulmohsen Alwabari , Learning and Development Lead , Tronox
Date Posted: 2017/06/15
Ashraf E. Mahmoud (PhD)
by Ashraf E. Mahmoud (PhD) , University Lecturer, Freelancer Consultant and Trainer for Int'l Business & Banking TF. , FreeLancer

Thanks for invitation,

I do believe that, the matter is closely related to setup a "National Training Plan", in order to cover specific needs and objectives for the society and then in this nominating plan build up National Standards for:

- Training Institutions. 

- Training programs, methodology and syllabus. 

- Training Instructors and their qualifications.

 

siva rama krishna daddanala
by siva rama krishna daddanala , safety officer & manager , arab paper manuf co

Scope and Objectives of Training and Education

 In 1981, the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health offered the following categories of educational objectives which apply in some degree to all of the groups discussed thus far: (1) cognitive (knowledge), (2) psychomotor (professional skills) and (3) affective (attitude and values). Another framework describes the “information–education–training” continuum, roughly corresponding to the “what”, the “why” and the “how” of hazards and their control.

Workers need to understand and apply the safety procedures, proper tools and protective equipment for performing specific tasks as part of their job skills training. They also require training in how to rectify hazards that they observe and to be familiar with internal company procedures, in accordance with the safety and health laws and regulations which apply to their area of work.

Similarly, supervisors and managers must be aware of the physical, chemical and psychosocial hazards present in their workplaces as well as the social, organizational and industrial relations factors that may be involved in the creation of these hazards and in their correction.

Thus, gaining knowledge and skills of a technical nature as well as organizational, communication and problem-solving skills are all necessary objectives in education and training.

In recent years, safety and health education has been influenced by developments in education theory, particularly theories of adult learning. There are different aspects of these developments, such as empowerment education, cooperative learning and participative learning.

An education programme must have four categories of objectives:

Information objectives: the specific knowledge that trainees will acquire. For example, knowledge of the effects of organic solvents on the skin and on the central nervous system.

Behavioural objectives: the competencies and skills that workers will learn. For example, the ability to interpret chemical data sheets or to lift a heavy object safely.

Attitude objectives: the beliefs that interfere with safe performance or with response to training that must be addressed. The belief that accidents are not preventable or that “solvents can’t hurt me because I’ve worked with them for years and I’m fine” are examples.

Social action objectives: the ability to analyse a specific problem, identify its causes, propose solutions and plan and take action steps to resolve it. For example, the task of analysing a particular job where several people have sustained back injuries, and of proposing ergonomic modifications, requires the social action of changing the organization of work through labour-management cooperation

PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING

Gordon Atherley and Dilys Robertson

Training can and will produce positive results if it is based on clearly defined needs specific to the workplace and if it is delivered with a view to those needs and the ways in which adults learn. This is, of course, true for safety and health training as well. The principles of safety and health training are no different from those which apply to any form of industrial training. Indeed, a good case can be made for the integration of skill training along with safety training wherever possible. Safety and health training which fails to produce positive results because it is not based on sound analysis is, at best, a waste of time and money. At worst, such training may result in false confidence, thus increasing the risk of accidents.

Needs Assessment

The first step in safety and health training design is to identify the problems which need to be addressed. This may be done for the entire organization, for a particular location or for a particular job.

Alternatively, the analysis of training needs may have a specific focus, for example, compliance with safety and health legislation or the performance of the joint safety and health committee. However, not all problems can be solved by training; in some cases, other action is needed to supplement it. A simple example of this is the case where the problem identified is a low level of compliance with the rule obliging workers to wear personal protective equipment. While part of the problem may be due to the fact that employees do not understand why the equipment is needed or how to use it correctly, it is equally possible that some or all of the problem may be caused by the fact that there is consistent failure to replace broken or missing equipment.

The existence of problems may surface in the form of a high rate of accidents, refusal-to-work situations or government inspectors' orders or citations. However, it is the problems which underlie such outward signs of trouble that need to be clearly identified. A training needs assessment may be defined as the process of identifying problems that are signalled by deficiencies in compliance with standards or external requirements and that can be resolved wholly or partly by training. A systems approach to training needs analysis involves a number of logical steps: problem identification, analysis, identification of training needs, the ranking of needs in order of urgency and the setting of training goals or objectives.

Problem identification

The sorts of problems that lend themselves to solution by means of training include the following:

Those that are identified after accidents have already happened. In this case, problems may be identified through review of accident statistics, accident investigation reports or, more broadly, through the failure to meet organizational goals for safety and health.

Problems that can be anticipated. Dangers can be identified before actual harm is done—for example, hazards can be foreseen when new machinery, substances or processes are introduced into the workplace, where there exist processes that have never been thoroughly analysed or where existing practice conflicts with known safe procedures .

The existence of external requirements. New legal requirements which either impose specific safety and health training duties or other requirements suggesting the need for training are examples of external requirements. The development of new industry codes of practice or national or international standards affecting safety and health are other examples.

Problem analysis

The next step is to analyse the problems so that necessary training may be identified. Problem analysis involves collecting information about the problem so that its causes can be determined. It also requires determining an appropriate standard which should be met. If, for example, the problem identified relates to a lack of effectiveness of the joint safety and health committee, analysis seeks to answer several questions. First, what is the committee supposed to be doing? Second, how well is the committee performing each of its required tasks? (This question requires the analyst to determine appropriate performance standards which should apply.) Third, why is the committee not performing particular tasks effectively?

Determining solutions

Once the problem has been analysed, the next step is to determine suitable solutions. If training is the solution or part of the solution, the particular training needs must be identified. What combination of skills and knowledge is required and by whom?

A critical part of the investigation of training needs is the assessment of the people involved. The purpose of this is threefold: first, people are likely to be more committed to training (and thus more likely to learn) if they have played a part in identifying the needs themselves; second, it is often necessary to assess the current level of required skill and knowledge among the target group of employees (for example, one might investigate whether joint safety and health committee members actually know what it is they are supposed to be doing); third, basic educational levels and literacy and language skills must be known so that appropriate instructional methods are applied. Surveys can be used to assess a number of these variables. If they are used, however, care should be taken to ensure individual confidentiality.

Setting priorities and goals

Once training needs have been clearly identified, the next step is to set priorities and objectives. Consideration must be given to the relative urgency of various training needs, taking into account factors such as the relative severity of consequences should accidents occur, the frequency with which problems are likely to occur, the number of people affected and legal compliance.

Training objectives must be specific because, if they are not, evaluating whether the training has been successful will prove difficult. Specifically defined objectives also help determine appropriate training content and delivery method. Training objectives or goals establish the results that training should achieve. Examples of specific training objectives might include (a) to ensure that every manager and supervisor knows and understands legal safety and health duties and rights applying to themselves and to all workers, (b) to ensure that all welders know and understand the hazards of welding and the required control procedures or (c) to provide fork-lift truck operators with the skill to operate their vehicles safely according to required procedures.

Choosing Appropriate Instructional Methods

Instructional methods include a number of techniques such as lectures, problem-solving exercises, small group discussion and role-playing.The methods chosen must be appropriate to what is being learned (whether knowledge, skills or concepts) and the training objectives. If, for example, the training objective is to impart knowledge about basic safety rules in the workplace, then a short lecture may be appropriate. However, there are different levels of learning in adults. The lowest level of learning is listening to information; the next level is acquiring knowledge; then, developing understanding; and finally, at the highest level, the ability to apply what is learned to different situations. In most training situations, participants will need to learn at more than one level and so a variety of instructional techniques will be required. Instructional methods must also be based upon sound principles of how adults learn best.

There is an acute need for more trained safety and health personnel in the developing world. While more university-trained and credentialed physicians, nurses and hygienists will undoubtedly be welcomed in these countries, it is nonetheless realistic to expect that many health services will continue to be delivered by primary health care workers. These people need training in the relationship between work and health, in the recognition of the major safety and health risks associated with the type of work carried on in their region, in basic survey and sampling techniques, in the use of the referral network available in their region for suspected cases of occupational illness and in health education and risk communication techniques (WHO1988).

Alternatives to university-based degree programmes are critically important to professional training in both developing and industrialized nations, and would include continuing education, distance education, on-the-job training and self-training, among others.

Conclusion

Education and training cannot solve all occupational safety and health problems, and care must be taken that the techniques learned in such programmes are in fact applied appropriately to the identified needs. They are, however, critical components of an effective safety and health programme when employed in conjunction with engineering and technical solutions. Cumulative, interactive and continuous learning is essential to prepare our rapidly changing work environments to meet the needs of workers, especially as regards the prevention of debilitating injuries and illnesses. Those who labour in the workplace as well as those who provide support from the outside need the most up-to-date information available and the skills to put this information to use in order to protect and promote worker health and safety.

 

Standards

People involved in standardization are convinced that their work generates considerable benefits for organizations, markets and society. Yet substantiating and quantifying the real value of such standards is not an easy task. This is why ISO has developed the ISO Methodology, a consistent approach to measuring this value, which has been tested in around 30 companies in over 20 countries across the globe. The results showed that standards do create value for the organizations that use them and it is possible to quantify them

1.      Understanding the value of standards

2.      Identifying the impacts of standards

3.      Analyzing the value drivers and determining the operational indicators

Key benefits of Standards

1.      Streamlining the internal operations

2.      Innovating and scaling up operations

 

3.      Creating new products

Nasir Mahmood Dar
by Nasir Mahmood Dar , Radar Operator - Tracker , Royal Bahraini Air Force

Thanks to invite.

If you are restricted purely to your national territory by all means for out put then you must give priority to meet and follow the National standard so that you have to survive in the business community.

On the other end if your product is related to Interantional market then your focus must be to follow th International Standard for training also. If your workers are well trained and aware about the International standards i.e. ISO etc then it will be easy to prove you identity to fulfill the International standard after knowing the Interanational standard and the easy way is to give awareness to your workers is Training considering the standards.

Ibrahim Hassawi
by Ibrahim Hassawi , Senior Consultant , I&H Marketing BEIRUT

well, since the question is a general form and since national standards and why they matter now adays, since they became an integral part of our existence and in our daily life, products, services and how they work???. talking about training programs made standards developed through the years and became that much important in protecting our health, the environment, our safety, children safety in toys, in business, economy ... etc.

standards are almost for everything we can think of, new ones at the moment are written and if there is a need for them.

standards development vs. training sector ... in my opinion its close to science and technology,

elsewhere we need to go through training vs. development through the public and private sector,

sure we can go through more specific details in every sector.

thank you.

Vennelakanti Srinivasa Rao
by Vennelakanti Srinivasa Rao , Associate Sales Manager

Training is the most important tool that every Organization must impart to their associates. The better trained equipped the staff are, the better would be the results and outcome. Sharpening the Saw is the age old adage. The Training department of every Organization should benchmark their training inputs on par with the best standards of the industry and also the best practices of the national level. In a highly competitive environ where the market is a global village, one will lose out if they are not best equipped for standing up to the Competition with the best training inputs. 

 

Obaid ur Rehman
by Obaid ur Rehman , HR Executive , Al Bahr Al Arabi Marine Engineering Services

Will wait for the answers from experts.

Kalyan  P
by Kalyan P , Lead HR , IT Product Services

It's a key differentiating factor from company to company if they follow the national standards in training sector

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