For the year 2019, these are unimaginable figures: Every year there are around 313 million fatalities at work and 6,000 deaths a day as a result. About 70 per cent of this is avoidable if companies comply with international and local regulations on occupational health and safety.
David Napier, Global Product Manager Health and Safety Training Academy & Life Care, is currently working on the first global strategy for better global implementation of occupational health and safety know-how – with the help of TÜV Rheinland Academy.
In 2018, over £61 million in fines were imposed in the UK for health, safety and environment (HSE) violations. According to new research, the number of penalties for the British alone has increased by 74% in one year. Moreover, the United Kingdom is just one example among many.
The international occupational health and safety organization ILO has for a long time complained that some people have been far too lax in their dealings with health and safety worldwide. This is not only an ethical problem, but also an economic one. In the USA alone, around 1 billion dollars are burned in occupational accidents – every week.
Establishing TÜV Rheinland Academy as the world’s leading learning provider
The above figures cast a bright light on the deficits companies have in terms of HSE competencies. “In many countries, the issue has not yet really reached people’s minds. Not only is there a lack of awareness of this important issue, but there is also a lack of knowledge that management is responsible and liable and how to implement HSE professionally,” complains Napier. As Global Product Manager Health and Safety Training Academy & Life Care, he is currently following the mission to set up a global strategy for HSE training.
The first cornerstone of his approach: a focus on industries. He wants to concentrate primarily on HSE courses for the mobility, oil & gas, construction, and energy sectors. In the next few years, he intends to establish TÜV Rheinland Academy as one of the leading global learning providers for HSE management. ‘’Let’s make this topic a positive thing, let’s make it simple and let’s make it more engaging.”
In Germany, TÜV Rheinland is a byword for quality and safety in business and institutions. However, this does not necessarily apply to all international TÜV Rheinland locations. To further strengthen TÜV Rheinland Academy’s international reputation for HSE management courses, Napier is seeking cooperation with NEBOSH, the National Examination Commission for Occupational Safety and Health in Great Britain, and IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health), the most significant British private organisation for health and safety professionals.
The institutions are globally active, train around 229,000 candidates worldwide, and cooperate with more than 2,000 learning service providers. “These cooperations give us a better global reach and increases awareness,” says Napier.
As part of his strategy, Napier also devotes himself to a core element of HSE management: competence development. After an industry-wide review, he found that most HSE courses are not practice-oriented; “Too much paper, too complicated, often too complex content is communicated in a too short time,” he says. “Besides, there is a lack of useful tools to facilitate learning and the involvement of learners is far too limited.”
“The first generally understandable course for HSE.”
In his opinion, this also applies to the existing HSE training courses of TÜV Rheinland Academy. Although there are many courses, they do not necessarily follow a clear strategy. Moreover, most of them are in German, which is not very helpful for internationalisation.
But a simple translation of the content is not enough. To further sharpen the profile of TÜV Rheinland Academy, Napier and the Digital Learning team have developed the “first generally understandable course for HSE management”, which will be globally applicable and internationally scalable.
While conventional courses are primarily oriented towards regional or local regulations, the new HSE course will primarily convey general and universally valid principles of health and safety management and thus lay an essential foundation for participants to gain easy access to the topic. The target group is not just safety-oriented people, but also managers who have not yet had any contact with HSE.
The course includes nine modules to be completed in four days: Among other things, it deals with the basic definition of occupational health and safety, topics such as risk assessment and risk management, accident recording principles and audits and inspections.
The content is conveyed in the form of videos, interactive quiz questions, animations, and e-learnings. The course concludes with a “TÜV Rheinland Management of Health & Safety” certificate.
Participants should ultimately be able to manage local health and safety issues locally, develop an understanding of their responsibility and liability issues, adopt a universal approach to health and safety management, and act as influencers to guide teams and work on multipliers.
In 2019, Napier plans to launch a pilot in the HSE area for a VR safety course in the field of hazard detection, in which the participants will learn the contents using virtual reality, i.e. data glasses and apps.
The advantages of this innovative method:
- Immersive: The complete immersion in the learning situation creates a “flow” state for the optimal reception readiness of the new contents.
- Self-controlled: Interactive contents enable “learning by doing” at one’s own pace; playful tasks increase motivation.
- Context-related: Digital content replaces physical devices and facilitates the development of practical skills. The participants move virtually in their later environment.
- Visual: Because the learning content is presented holographically, cost-intensive and time-consuming on-site training courses are no longer necessary and essential features can be impressively highlighted.
- Locally independent: The training solutions can be used in your own environment. Learning is possible locally independently.
Napier sees a multi-channel strategy for the distribution of this course. In addition to delivery to globally active players, for whom the scalability of the course should be very interesting, this also includes the complete or modular sublicensing to other providers.
To find out more about how your organisation can better comply with international and local regulations on occupational health and safety, speak to one of our experts today:
