The wheel is amazing. It’s mostly amazing because it has already been invented and comes in a seemingly endless number of variations. While not as widely used or varied in design as the wheel, hazmat training does not require reinvention.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Center for Domestic Preparedness recently put out a 7-minute training video to teach hazmat crews how to properly ground tankers and the pump when moving dangerous liquids from a damaged car. The video is part of CDP’s Response Shorts micro-learning series.
“Creating a temporary grounding system around the work zone ensures responders are protected from static discharge and sparking caused by differences in electric potential,” CDP wrote about the video. “This video illustrates the proper protocols to follow to ensure safety is maintained during flammable liquid transfers that may occur outside of fixed facilities.”
This video will not break the internet due to overuse, but it is a great foundation for hazmat training. The key, of course, is making this video a component to a more robust training program or event. In other words, it’s about building a really good cart around an existing wheel.
The death-by-PowerPoint training or assigned video to watch will achieve one thing and one thing only — check off required training time. But where the rubber meets the road is, did learning actually take place? Is a hazmat team’s success measured by how well its members sit through PowerPoint?
Here are four things to help you get more learning mileage out of this and other ready-made videos.
ONE:
Pre-test your audience. Give participants a quiz on the material prior to showing the video or doing any supplemental lecture or demonstrations. This will get class members thinking about the topic and what to pay attention for during the class. It will also give you a handle on where their knowledge level was at the start of class and what degree of learning occurred as a result of the class. As an instructor, measuring that change will be important if the value of the class, or you as a teacher, is called into question. It will give you the data to identify and fix deficiencies. Give the pre-test in writing and chart the results. Something as simple as an Excel spreadsheet can be set up for multiple classes where the scores and percentages are automatically tabulated.
TWO:
Augment the video with deeper training material. Rather than plowing through a standard PowerPoint presentation, look for ways to incorporate knowledge learned from past local experience, national examples, latest research and group discussion. In short, find ways that make the material matter to the students, which is achieved by direct participation and local connections.
THREE:
Test after the classroom material is presented. Again, make this a written test and record the results. Evaluate the results you get. Look for areas where all or most students get things wrong. This is a red flag for weak training material, poorly worded test questions or both. Likewise, when all or most students consistently get certain things right, it can be an indication the material is too easy. Sometimes, test questions telegraph the correct answer. Other times, the material doesn’t push the students into the realm of critical thinking and problem solving. Good testing gives quantifiable data that can be used to justify and improve a class or program.
FOUR:
Get out and play when possible. It would be fairly simple to create hands-on training and evaluation components based on this video on proper tanker grounding. Even without sophisticated props, open space, stakes, cones, labels and wire are enough to work through the basics. As with the written tests, evaluate students’ success with an eye toward making improvements to future training scenarios.
