Immersive Training Prepares Workers When Moments Matter
Safety professionals face more challenges than ever in keeping training on target during these challenging times.
For most employers, adequate safety training isn’t just desirable, it is also required by law. For example, OSHA requires trained first aid providers at all workplaces of any size if there is no infirmary, clinic or hospital in nearby proximity to the workplace. Since proximity is interpreted by OSHA as help that can arrive within three to four minutes of the emergency, most workplaces will need trained first aid responders. In addition, OSHA requires cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training in certain industries, such as electrical power, due to chances of sudden cardiac arrest from asphyxiation, electrocution or exertion.3
Workplace disruptions of the past two years have forced educators across-the-board to reimagine the way they teach and learn, and this is no different for CPR and AED training. Recent research underscores that education providers must build the infrastructure to support new learning methods, fully integrating technology into classrooms by becoming familiar with a range of online learning approaches and incorporate rigorous quality control. These newer modalities such as online or virtual learning, hybrid learning environments and blended learning, combine in-person learning with an online component.
“Public health disasters such as Covid-19 can encourage innovation and create out-of-the box thinking in educational settings,” provided these components are in place, Minnesota State University Moorhead researchers concluded.
Adapting to this new training “normal” is especially pressing for employers since some industries will always require employees to be in-person. If there is a forklift accident in a food distribution warehouse, for example, managers need to know that a fully trained person is nearby and ready with the necessary lifesaving skills. They also need to know that, despite the pandemic disruptions of the last two years, the employee’s emergency skills are as sharp as they can be.
Unfortunately, the numbers show that workplace emergencies are an enduring reality. According to the most recent data5 from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers reported 2.7 million injury and illness cases in 2020. Over the same period, employers reported 4,764 fatal injuries on the job.
This article originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.