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Toolbox Training: Part 2 by Susan Reschny, B.Ed. Director of Program Development A continued article from Part 1. How to Plan Toolbox Training Sessions  Toolbox
training sessions are becoming the “in thing” for safety training
in the workplace. There are a variety of resources available
throughout North America that provide generic plans for this new
training genre. Although these sources can give managers and
safety coordinators a nice place to start, they are not specific
to the workplace needs.
As a professional educator, I provide training to specific objectives on a regular basis to varied clientele. Over the years, I have observed many great instructors, have delivered some fabulous lessons myself and have bombed miserably. Like most skills, the art of providing good training requires planning and practice. The first time can be difficult but the process becomes quicker and easier with experience. I have worked with many beginning educators and the common thread for success is good planning. The following are some suggestions to help you plan effective toolbox sessions. 1. Choose your objective. When I studied at the College of Education this part drove me crazy. There was so much to do in so little time! Surely I could teach a whole bunch of things in one lesson! I later learned that one or two well thought out goals for the training was much better than trying to accomplish too much. Choose objectives that you can easily measure for success. E.g.: § All participants will be able to identify the location of the fire extinguishers in the area that they work. § All participants will be able to identify the meeting place for workers in the case of fire or evacuation. These objectives are straight forward and can be measured or tested for success. 2. Create the action plan for the training. Once you know what you want everyone to learn, create an action plan. You may use a variety of methods to achieve your objectives including: § Demonstration § Discussion § Brainstorming- coming up with a variety of different options without judgment § Detailed explanation § Problem solving Be sure that all of the instructions are extremely clear. Look critically at all of the steps needed to complete the task you are trying to teach. Once you have broken the task into small steps, it is often worthwhile to write them down for others to follow at a later date, especially if the skill is rarely used. § Write down the information you want to teach others. § Check to make sure that it follows a logical sequence and that it has been broken down into component steps. § Be sure that you have enough time to adequately meet your objective. § Create a checklist or instruction sheet for skills that require multiple steps or are used infrequently. Either hand them out or make them easily accessible. 3. Evaluate. At the end of your training session you need to evaluate to see if your objectives have been met. Assessment can be done both formally and informally – either way, you just need to find out if your training plan has worked. Examples of formal evaluations are tests, quizzes or demonstration of the skill. Informal evaluation would include such things as questions, brief summaries by the participants or simply the observation of the workers as they perform the skill during the work day. It is important to note that you are not only assessing the workers, but also your training session. Ask for feedback so that you can plan for success. Obviously the art of training does not become fine tuned overnight. Try a variety of methodologies and find out what works best for you and your staff. Educators know that planning is the key to successful training. Hopefully these hints will assist you in your endeavours. BONUS: We've included Toolbox Training Session Worksheets that you can download and use to create your own custom toolbox training sessions. Let us know how you've implemented toolbox training sessions so that we can pass your good ideas onto other readers. NEXT ISSUE:How to effectively present toolbox training sessions. |
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