Training the American worker: The Web is becoming the way to learn

Every American company, governmental agency and public institution must comply with federal, state and local environmental, health and safety regulations. Under that mandate, millions of American workers must be trained each year in appropriate areas of risk management ranging from understanding hazardous situations and materials in their workplace, to dealing with blood-borne pathogens to laboratory safety awareness.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, occupational, health and safety training is administered to 58 percent of all employees, making it the largest of all categories of training measured for American businesses. Employers annually provide more than 500 million hours of occupational safety training at a total cost of $12.8 billion.

As workplace environments become more sophisticated, workers are continually being confronted with new risks and challenges. With tougher governmental regulations on the horizon, the need for adequate training programs is expected to increase dramatically. How these vital programs are delivered to the American worker becomes a critical – perhaps the most critical – element in ensuring a safe, compliant workplace.

Online training
Anyone who has experienced an environmental and/or occupational health and safety training course is familiar with the traditional approach of an instructor-led seminar or classroom setting. Such sessions can last anywhere from one hour to two days, often at a site away from the workplace. This approach, while it has served industry well over the last several decades, is costly, time-consuming and increasingly difficult to administer, as more and more workers require some form of training.

Online training, delivered either through the Internet or via a company's intranet, is rapidly emerging as a robust solution to this logistical and financial dilemma.

Industry experts claim the Web-based training market will experience phenomenal growth in the next few years. International Data Corporation recently predicted that the online learning industry will account for $10 billion in annual revenue by 2002, up from $600 million in 1998. The American Society of Training and Development forecasts that 35 percent of all training will be delivered electronically this year.

The reasons for such tremendous growth are addressed extensively in the work of industry expert Dr. Brandon Hall, editor of The Multimedia Training Newsletter.

With an online program, Hall contends, employers can reduce the number of instructors and the cost of training materials, facilities and equipment. Employees also spend less time away from their jobs.

Hall maintains employees complete Web-based courses 40-60 percent faster than in traditional classroom or instructor-led sessions. Cost savings also result from the fact that there are no restrictions on class size, no class scheduling issues and no language barriers. Courses can be administered in the employee's native language, greatly improving learner comprehension. The training material also can be "read" to the employee using audio streaming techniques, greatly enhancing acceptance and comprehension for reading-challenged employees.

For government agencies and large corporations that have downsized training departments, Web-based learning provides a continuous mechanism for delivering a wide range of high-quality training programs for employees. For small businesses, it offers the flexibility and efficiency that traditional programs can't provide.

Customized learning
When compared with other methods of training, Web-based learning solutions have the most flexibility. Content can be tailored to fit individual work environments. Subject matter experts provide quality assurance checks on all course content. The content delivery is consistent, allowing employers to get an idea of the learner's understanding and competency. One high-tech manufacturing firm offers training specific to each manufacturing line. Employees on the line "see" the machines they work with, the hazardous chemicals specific to them, and receive training in the areas applicable to their jobs.

Training centers
Well-designed Web-based training includes Online Training Centers. The Training Center is a secure area where the learners see their course status, can check their progress/grades, receive messages from management and communicate with experts who can provide one-on-one training for learners. Employees can take the course on their own time frame, depending on their schedules and needs. The site can be accessed 24 hours a day, making it available to employees "anytime, anyplace and any pace."

Administrative functions
Companies and organizations gravitate to Web-based training because of the ease and consistency of delivery. Many firms, that once had fully functional training departments, find that one of the largest benefits of Web-based training is the integral administrative system. The system features an extensive database that automatically captures learning activities, such as time taken in individual sections of the training, time of access, and most importantly, learner scores and completion dates. Traditional training administration ranges from file folders stuffed with course attendance sheets to stand-alone training management systems. Even the most advanced traditional training management system requires learner information to be keyed in manually. Administration-equipped Web-based training systems automatically collect, store and present all learner information.

Flexibility
Unlike traditional courses, which require employees to take time away from their jobs at a time that may not be convenient, Web-based courses can be taken in modules or educational "chunks" that suit the employee's job schedule and commitments.

A large engineering firm used Web-based training to help meet OSHA and EPA training requirement for 3,000 of their employees. In the first year of deployment the Web-based course saved the company more than $500,000 in training salaries, expenses and lost billings compared to traditional training.

As businesses and organizations strive to compete in a fast-changing, high-tech world, trends such as Web-based training are becoming not only preferable, but essential. Web-based learning is increasingly being seen as an efficient, cost-effective and practical option for training the growing number of workers who must meet higher and higher standards for environmental health and safety and compliance.

Excerpted from June 2000 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health, official publication of the National Environmental Health Association.

Contact: Mark P. Allen, President, FirstNet Learning, Inc. Tel: 303.948.4611; e-mail: mallen@firstnetlearning.com.