The Future of Training--A Web-Based Option.

The times, they are a changing!

NEHA is a 501C3 not-for-profit corporation. Our primary reason for existence is education.

Delivering education has for years been a relatively straightforward task. We publish relevant and useful material in our Journal. For our annual conference, we find good speakers who can talk about problems the profession is finding difficult to solve. We look for books that effectively address issues facing environmental health professionals, and we make those books available through our publications collection. We offer continuing-education courses, especially to help people prepare for our credentials. And so on.

Now there is the internet--and NEHA is right there.

NEHA now has available approximately a dozen different Web-based training courses. Web-based training represents the next wave of continuing-education opportunities. We want our members to know that NEHA is there as this new technology begins to reshape how professionals like you obtain the continuing education you need.

Web-based training is coming on fast. To help our members understand this new trend, we have asked our on-line training partner, FirstNet Learning, to prepare an article on this new form of continuing education. That article is presented below.

We hope you will take advantage of this new, more convenient, and cost-effective way of meeting your continuing-education needs. We also hope that this article will help you better understand what this new form of education is all about.

Introduction

In the ever-changing, complex, and often overwhelming realm of environmental health, the greatest challenge of all may also be the solution: training.

Every American company, governmental agency, and public institution must comply with federal, state, and local environmental health and safety regulations. For many businesses, that requirement mandates training workers in areas of risk management that range from laboratory safety awareness to dealing with bloodborne pathogens to understanding hazardous situations and materials in the workplace. 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 measured training categories among American businesses. Employers annually provide more than 500 million hours of occupational safety training at a total cost of $12.8 billion.

With new risks and challenges continually entering the workplace and with tougher governmental regulations on the horizon, the need for adequate training programs is expected to increase dramatically. A quick look at what is happening in the workplace will make that need all the more clear.

In the last 20 years, more than 44 federal environmental health and safety regulations (requiring compliance performance and training) have been mandated. According to the November 17, 1998, issue of the Wall Street Journal, in fiscal 1998, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reported 76,980 employer violations resulting in fines.

OSHA is finalizing new regulations that will require all businesses to develop workplace safety programs with five core elements:

* a training and information program,

* a management leadership and employee participation program,

* a hazard identification and assessment program,

* a hazard prevention and control program, and

* an evaluation of program effectiveness.

How these vital training programs are delivered to the American worker becomes a critical--perhaps the most critical--element in ensuring safe, compliant workplaces.

Web-Based Training

Anyone who has received environmental or occupational health and safety training is familiar with the traditional approach of an instructor-led seminar or classroom experience. 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 in the last 30 to 40 years, is costly time consuming, and increasingly cumbersome as more and more workers require some form of training.

American businesses with more than 100 employees spend $74 billion annually on training, at an average cost of $1,290 per employee per year. Approximately 106,291,380 employees receive a total of 510,198,624 hours of occupational safety training annually

The delivery of traditional training to an increasing number of employees is fast becoming a financial and logistical dilemma. One answer to this dilemma can be on-line training, delivered either through the Internet or through a company's "intranet,' or internal computer network.

Industry experts believe the Web-based training market will experience phenomenal growth in the next few years. International Data Corporation recently predicted that the on-line learning industry would 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. According to a 1997 ASTD study, Web-based training is growing at an annual rate of 80 percent, followed by interactive classroom training (57 percent growth); electronic performance support system training (50 percent); and computer-based, or CDROM training (22 percent).

Dr. Brandon Hall, editor of the Multimedia Training Newsletter, outlined the reasons for such tremendous growth in a 1995 article titled "Return on Investment and Multimedia Training":

* Web-based training reduces the total cost of training compared with instructor-led training.

* Web-based training requires less time for training compared with instructor-led training. The amount of reduction ranges from 20 to 80 percent, with 40 to 60 percent being the most common.

* The quality of learning in Web-based training is equal to or higher than the quality that results from traditional instruction.

Web-based instruction can reduce company training costs by as much as 50 percent. With an on-line program, 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.

According to Dr. Hall, employees complete Web-based courses 40 to 60 percent faster than they do in traditional classroom courses or instructor-led sessions. Cost savings also result from the fact that there are no restrictions on class size, no scheduling issues, and no language issues. Courses can be given in an employee's native language, so learner comprehension is greatly improved. The training also can be "read" to employees by the computer, greatly enhancing acceptance and comprehension for illiterate or reading-challenged employees.

Tailored Training

Compared with other methods of training, Web-based learning solutions have the most flexibility. Content can be tailored to fit individual work environments. Internal experts or subject matter experts from the system supplier can check all course content. The content delivery is consistent, and the integral testing allows employers to get an idea of a learner's understanding and competence. One high-tech manufacturing firm offers training specific to each manufacturing line. Employees "see" the machines they work with, as well as hazardous chemicals specific to their jobs, and receive training in applicable areas.

In addition, employees who are starting in a new job or job area are able immediately to take the job- or area-specific Web-based training, a timeliness that was too costly and too difficult to arrange prior to on-line learning.

Training Centers

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

Employers who have implemented Web-based training maintain the approach benefits their organization--and their employees--in a variety of ways:

* considerable savings in money and time;

* quality product, as good as or better than traditional training classes;

* flexibility--courses can be taken at the student's own pace; and

* built-in administration, including grading, oversight, and record-keeping features.

A large automobile dealer group in Colorado currently is installing an Internet-based training system to help influence the behavior of employees. The courses cover safety issues, employee respect, risk control, and environmental issues. The topics are broken into 7-to-12-minute segments so that employees can "grab" some training when it's convenient and return to work.

The system allows the automobile dealer to provide training on a nearly constant basis rather than at the traditional quarterly meetings. Employees like the training because they are in control of the process--they pick the time and set the pace--and because the training is tailored to their work environment. Also, the program allows the employees actually to see examples of their work areas and safety equipment. The employer likes it because the training is more timely more consistent, and more effective than instructor-led courses--and it costs less in trainer time and administration costs.

Administrative Functions

Companies and organizations gravitate to Web-based training because of the ease and consistency of delivery. At many firms, once the system is fully functional, one of the largest benefits of Web-based training turns out to be the integrated administration system. The system features an extensive database that automatically captures learning functions performed, time spent in individual sections of the training, time of access, and, most importantly learner scores and completion dates. In traditional training, administration takes forms that range from file folders stuffed with course attendance sheets to stand-alone training-management systems. Even the most advanced traditional training-management system requires that learner information be manually keyed. Administration-equipped Web-based training systems automatically collect, store, and present all learner information.

Flexibility

Unlike traditional training courses, which require that employees take time away from their jobs at times that may not be convenient, Web-based courses can be taken in modules or educational "chunks" that suit the subject matter as well as the employee's own schedule.

This feature is particularly beneficial in the delivery of HAZWOPER, an 8-hour refresher course in hazardous waste operations and emergency-response personnel that OSHA requires annually. A large engineering firm used Web-based training to help meet the HAZWOPER training requirement for 3,000 employees. The Web-based course saved the company more than $500,000 in training salaries and expenses, and the employer was pleasantly surprised to find that many of the employees were taking the training when it suited them, over lunch, after work, while out of town, and during slow times.

Conclusion

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 also essential. Web-based learning is increasingly seen as an efficient, cost-effective, and practical option for training the growing number of workers who must meet higher and higher standards for safety, environmental health, and compliance. For public agencies and large corporations that have downsized, Web-based learning provides a continuous mechanism for delivering a wide range of high-quality training programs to employees. For small businesses with only a few employees, this kind of training offers the flexibility and efficiency that traditional programs can't provide. Features such as built-in administrative systems and oversight make on-line learning even more attractive.

Web-based training can save organizations and companies up to hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours of lost work time while providing an interactive, one-on-one learning experience that is effective and enjoyable--and that can be designed to meet the specific needs and schedules of an organization, a company, or an individual.

An article in the January/February 2000 issue of Corporate University Review quotes Kevin Kruse, author of the new book, Technology-Based Training: "The Web is now considered a key tool for delivering training interventions. Research indicates that almost all the Fortune 1000 companies have at least piloted a [Web-based training] course, and most are using real [Web-based training] programs to train their workforces."

Many experts believe that just as the Web has dramatically affected the way business is conducted on many levels, it will revolutionize the way training programs are delivered. "The biggest growth in the Internet--and an area that will prove to be one of the biggest agents of change--will be in on-line training, or e-learning," says John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems, Comdex 99, manufacturer of Internet and other Web hardware.

"Someday" the company contends, "the training for every job on earth will be available on the Internet."