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Tag Archive: safety training videos

Announcing New Training Video Best Practice Guide

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It’s smart for companies to be worried about staff training videos and how to tackle them correctly. There are so many choices. Quite frequently, training videos are produced that just don’t get used. Now, working out what components to include in your training video just got easier.

Melbourne, Australia (August 26, 2010) – Digicast Productions, a training video production house, today released the “Best Practice Guide: How to Produce Staff Training Videos that get Results”. Developing the right training video for your company isn’t easy. This guide is a useful resource for anyone involved in the challenging and complex task of producing a company training video that performs.
In this 4 page guide, discover:

The key components required for the best induction training program
The causes of a poor performing training video
Issues to avoid during the production of a training video

This guide is suitable for anyone wishing to produce a company training video that will be used for many years. It is a companion guide for the Training Video Buyer’s Kit.

For a complete copy of the kit, visit http://info.digicast.com.au/best-practice-guide-to-training-videos

About Digicast Productions

Established in 1991, Digicast is an Australian vendor of customised safety and induction training videos. Thousands of people each year worldwide are trained with Digicast training videos. For more information, visit Digicast at www.digicast.com.au or The Workplace Improver blog for training tips.

Contact Marie-Claire Ross

Digicast Productions
+ 61 3 9696-4400
mc@digicast.com.au

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How Using Quizzes in Induction Training Improves New Starter Learning

Written on August 16, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in Induction quiz, Induction test, Training assessment, Training test, company induction training, customer training videos, improving safety standards, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace health, workplace performance

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Induction training is absolutely vital for new employees. It is also the time when new starters are thirsty to know more about their new workplace and want to quickly integrate into their new team. However, it can be difficult to know how well a new starter or contractor has absorbed training information.

Establish an induction training evaluation system

According to Joe Huang from Wondershare, makers of the Quiz Creator, as with any type of training, it is important to review and seek feedback before, after and during induction training. The evaluation of induction training can be divided into three stages:

Evaluating new employees’ learning and academic performance. Before new employees start with you, you can quiz them on their knowledge. This can be determined through examinations: paper-based tests are usually the most common way, but for the sake of time-saving and cost-effective, computer-based tests are the best choice.
Evaluating the appropriateness of the training course content. For companies who are not sure about the content in their training and how new employees feel about it, you can quiz new starters to find out how they found the training and what they liked/disliked. This is a great way to update your training in a meaningful way.
Evaluating the work performance of trainees. After the newbie has started, you can quiz supervisors on certain learning outcomes, to find out what they think of the performance of the new starter, so you can know how the new employees took their training into practice. This is also important information when reviewing your induction training and what areas need further improvement.

How quizzes can be used with induction training video for optimal results

Research has found that viewers of a training video score better on message retention and recall levels when they are told that they will be tested.
To use quizzes properly with a training video:

Quiz your learners before producing the training video. By finding out what information current staff have difficulty with, you will be more knowledgeable about the type of information to put into your training video.
Quiz your learners after (or during) the video training. This makes sure they have absorbed the information.
Use a quiz as a review tool. This is a great way to refresh staff. Even if they only watch a small segment of an induction training video (for example: warm up exercises, by undertaking a small quiz on this topic, you know that they have learnt the information).

Now, while it is all well and good to test people during induction training, we hear from many companies that this sort of e-learning approach can be flawed. All it takes is for a dodgy supervisor to hand people the answers and everyone passes through the quiz in flying colours.

That’s why it is important when testing people that if they get it wrong, they have to go back to that section and watch the video again. Or alternatively, the questions are randomly displayed so that it makes cheating much harder.

According to Joe Huang, it is important to choose a quiz creating software that has anti-cheating features. This includes a time limit (so that there is no time to research answers), randomization (questions occur in different order), access control (password only access to change the test) and a concealed XML file (this stops the answers from being viewed).

Announcing New Training Video Buyer’s Kit

Written on August 11, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, customer training videos, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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It’s smart for companies to be worried about staff and customer training videos and how to tackle them correctly. There are so many choices. Quite frequently, training videos are produced that just don’t get watched. Now making the right decision has just got easier.

Melbourne, Australia (August 11, 2010) – Digicast Productions, a training video production house, today released the “Training Video Buyer’s Kit”. Developing the right training video for your company isn’t easy. Nor is choosing the right company to help you. This kit is a useful resource for anyone involved in the challenging and complex task of deciding upon producing a staff or customer training video and then how to go about it.

Using a four step process the buyer kit includes:

A list of questions to decide whether or not a training video is right for an organisation.

The critical questions to determine what the training video needs to achieve, in order to write the brief and how to best manage the project internally.
A valuable checklist to evaluate the suitability of a video production house.
An additional checklist to measure the effectiveness of training videos already produced by production houses.

For a complete copy of the kit, visit http://info.digicast.com.au/things-you-need-to-know-before-buying-a-customised-training-video
About Digicast Productions

Contact Marie-Claire Ross

Digicast Productions
+ 61 3 9696-4400
mc@digicast.com.au

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7 Tips to Improve Induction Training Materials

Written on July 20, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, customer training videos, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, shift work training, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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1. Use more Visuals - 83% of human learning occurs visually. Use lots of photos, videos, diagrams and colour to present training information. Avoid relying heavily on text based training. After all, we only recall 10% of what we read compared to 50% for what we both see and hear.

2. Tell Stories – During training, tell stories of exemplary staff behaviour that typify the type of action you want staff to do. Stories help people make emotional connections.

3. Lead by Values – Let staff/contractors know what your values are. Using values, empowers workers to make decisions based on company values. Difficult for staff to make the right decisions if they only have rules to follow.

4. Positivise it – Remove negative language. Tell people how you want them to behave, rather than telling them what you don’t want. Remove words such as ‘no’, ‘can’t and ‘don’t’.

5. Involve senior management - Senior management play an integral leadership role in establishing culture. Effective leadership whether it be concerning safety, a new sales method or business structure must be led from the top. They must be involved in the induction process.

6. Reduce complication - Get rid of long sentences, jargon and big words in training materials. Keep it short and tweet.

‘Words are how we think, story is about how we link’ Christina Baldwin

7. Ask more why questions - Teach people why they need to do something, so they can always figure out the how. Otherwise, company processes keep getting perpetuated without people ever questioning why they do something.

Think you need help to improve your company induction training materials? Then, go to the seminar to find out more information.

How to Communicate Workplace Safety Messages

Written on July 9, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in company induction training, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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Safety training comminication According to Steven Bell, senior associate with law firm Freehills, in January 2012 the new Australian OHS laws will expect companies to drive safety management internally and push greater alignment between key messages and action.

The new laws will introduce a level of personal responsibility that will help drive the changes needed for better OHS. This means that senior managers will be expected to foster a positive workplace culture, receive regular safety reporting and a practical understanding of what is happening on the ground.

This is a great step forward as senior management actually drive the safety culture of a company.

Currently, most companies promote a safety culture, but send out mixed messages when it comes to a safe workplace. For example: A fairly standard grumble by many workers is that they are expected to work safely, yet at the same time they are told to work faster or in a way that involves safety risks, to drive productivity.

So with the new requirement to promote safety messages and show evidence of a positive safety culture, what is the best way to communicate workplace safety messages?

With any communication program, it is important to take into account that people absorb messages differently and the more they see it, the more likely it will be taken on-board. Therefore, any workplace safety communication messages need to include a variety of communication approaches such as posters, training videos, staff newsletter and ‘toolbox’ talks. They all need to be branded with the company’s unique safety messages.

In addition, the workplace safety communication must be personalised to the company. Generic safety messages won’t cut it. Instead, it needs to be formulated according to your culture and demographics. And then it needs to be followed up with action.

Training videos are more persuasive than written material which is perceived as less important and credible.

A lot of companies that we have worked with have successfully used a customised training video as the main communication medium to drive OHS behaviour change. They have then supported the training video with posters, newsletters and other safety specific materials.

A staff training video is an ideal way to connect with staff. Made correctly it will positively and believably demonstrate your company commitment to the healthy and safety of your workplace. After all, research has found that training videos are more persuasive than written material which is perceived as less important and credible.

In order to take into account the new laws, consider creating a customised training video that includes:

An introduction by senior managers talking about the importance of safety to the staff and company.
Safety rules/explaining that poor safety effects the viewer and other workers
Procedures
Summary

Of course, just playing a training video doesn’t automatically ensure that staff will know your training messages. It needs to be followed up with a consistent workplace culture that always considers the safety rules/message in every activity. Not just when played on a training video.

More importantly, senior management must support and agree with all the safety communication tools. And refer to them often.

After all, staff won’t believe that the company backs its safety messages, until they see the proof of action.

How to make your Induction Materials come to Life

Written on June 17, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in company induction training, induction videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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Truck driver training

Recently, I was speaking to a client about what baseline figures we needed to measure before and after his company induction training video gets released.

What I found interesting was that even though there are some key figures we can measure (eg: trends in customer complaints and accidents), as far as he was concerned the video was mainly a holistic training device to help in a number of key areas that were immeasurable.

In this company, they have 450 truck drivers who do a vitally important job. Yet, other staff members in different departments and even the truck drivers themselves, do not realise how important this role is to the company success.

The training video has been written to let truck drivers realise how important their responsibilities are and the broader impact on the company itself. This is part of the all-important introduction which clearly lets drivers know what the company does, who they serve, how their job role impacts the company, the importance of safety and their job responsibilities.

The induction video is a way of connecting emotionally to these truck drivers so they realise the importance of their ambassador role for the organisation while also ensuring the fresh and timely delivery of their milk products. It also includes procedural tasks.

Interestingly, my client made the remark that the training video was really a different communication medium to ‘put life’ into their induction document. And while it is important to train on procedures, it was more important to align the truck drivers with the broader perspective of their job and the company vision and values.

What pleases me, is that this organisation understands that training is not just about teaching the right processes, it is also about getting staff aligned with what the company does and why, as well as the importance of jobs. It’s not just about delivering a product on time, it’s also about the being an important visible representative of the company. After all, a truck driver that is discourteous reflects badly on the company reputation. By letting staff know the greater meaning and importance of the job, the more they will see purpose in what they do which will result in better performance, but also better job satisfaction.

After all, a happy team is a productive team.

What can you do to your training materials to provide information about the importance of the job role and its relevance to the broader perspective to your company?

We’ve won a Gold Award for Best Use of Video in a Training Program

Written on April 16, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, improving safety standards, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos, workplace performance

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LearnX Asia Pacific 2010 recognizes Digicast Productions as producing induction training videos that are like gold.

We are very excited to be given a gold award for the induction training video we created for our wonderful client Conundrum Holdings.

The reasons we won were because of the amazing time/cost benefits we have saved Conundrum, as well as providing higher quality training.

Since the induction video was introduced at Conundrum Holdings, Conundrum’s induction training has been re-invigorated and they now get praise for their induction system whereas before they mostly got grumbles.

“We continuously aim to improve the safety and productivity at our quarry sites. Now
that we have a quality training tool that can be incorporated into our site induction
process, it has reduced the time to train staff/contractors by 68%. A major benefit has
been the saving to management time which is saving us around 2.5 hours a week or about
$20,000 a year. Site managers now have more time to get on with the task of actually
managing the sites. But more importantly, it still ensures that the inductions are of a
consistently high standard and we no longer get complaints from contractors about
having to sit through another dull site induction”.

Tom Kerr, OHS Manager/Quality Assurance Manager, Conundrum Holdings

Thanks to LearnX and Conundrum for this Award.

You can read more about how we helped Conundrum, here.

Companies losing billions from poor safety, says Professor

Written on March 22, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in improving safety standards, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, workplace performance

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According to a recent article published on IndustrySearch, companies lose 10% of their annual turnover, as a result of poor safety costing billions in lost production and flow-on effects.

Professor Patrick Hudson, based at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, made the comments at a briefing with journalists recently in Melbourne.

“I have an estimate that a company may be losing up to 10 per cent of its turnover as a result of poor OHS and E (occupational health, safety and environment) performance, that is usually a whack of money,” Prof. Hudson said.

Professor Hudson, who specialises in safety for the health, oil, gas, construction and mining industries later told reporters the figure could mean billions of dollars for large miners.

“When you have a shutdown you lose production, and you just add it up,” Prof. Hudson said.

“It is a massive amount of money and most of it goes in relatively small-scale stuff, not necessarily payouts to people who are injured but in the whole way things are run,” Prof. Hudson said.

“If anyone disagrees with me, that is fine, but when I challenge them to come up with the real figures I find they don’t have any,” he said.

Professor Hudson said that while the companies he dealt with did not put a figure on the worth of a worker, a workplace death was usually estimated to cost a company millions.

“It may be an individual is costed at one, two or four million dollars, depending upon what country you are in,” he said.

“Really what costs is things like lost production, slowdowns, having regulators all over you, having a lot of lawyers getting very excited,” he said.

Prof. Hudson said Australia had come a long way in improving occupational health and safety.

“The old Australian culture, looking back a long way, was pretty rough,” he said.

Why do men feel the urge to insert sexual terms into workplace training materials?

Written on March 9, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in Inappropriate sexual terms, OHS videos, company induction training, corporate videos, improving safety standards, induction videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos

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Back in the early 90′s, there used to be an Australian comedy series called “Fast Forward”, that featured a character called, Calvin Cunnington (played by Michael Veitch), who would burst into laughter at any sexual innuendos mentioned in the workplace, subsequently driving his colleagues mad.

As a training video producer, specializing in safety and induction videos, as well as marketing videos in the industrial arena, I come across training materials that are pretty dry. My job is to transform the training materials into training video scripts that are interesting and will improve message retention and comprehension.

Yet weirdly, I feel a bit like Calvin when I read training materials and find all sorts of sexual terms lurking behind quite mundane and technical text.

My favourite one is slab penetration. Any shape and size of penetration can be made through decking. If size of penetration is greater than one rib…..

I couldn’t work out what it all meant and was very surprised to discover that slab penetration is all about cutting. Who knew that cutting a piece of metal is really all about penetrating and that even the size is so important?

The next one is “insert the fuel nozzle into the receptacle“. Okay, that’s probably harmless and the more I think about it, it would be pretty hard not to write that in a suggestive tone!

But time and time again, I come across very technical training materials that seem to use a lot of references to penetration, erections, vibrator compaction (ouch!) and receptacles. And many times, I’ve felt that the words are just said too many times or could be substituted for something else.

It reminds me of my biology notes at school. I found it quite funny to write orgasm, instead of organism in my personal biology notes. My mother read them and was quite disturbed that I had got those words so wrong. But that was just a teenager deliberately exchanging words for a bit of fun.

What I can’t work out is whether men are deliberately slipping in sexual terms because they are finding the material just a tad boring and they want to spice things up a bit. Or whether it’s all a bit subconscious.

One thing for sure is that while inserting sexual terms into training might be a bit of fun for the writer, it certainly doesn’t help the learner. Once I stumble on sexual innuendos in a very non-sexy topic, it is fairly distracting. Particularly, when I can’t understand how in the world cutting can be replaced by penetration. Or maybe it’s just me (or just a girl thing)? Maybe men are fine with all of these phallic phrases and don’t even notice them.

But as for staff training, how do employees go with reading these training materials? Are there Calvin-esque type sniggers occurring during induction training in workplaces across the country?

What I want to know is has anyone else experienced sexual terms being inserted into training materials (or even marketing materials) that just seemed a little bit inappropriate?

The Importance of Using Visuals in your Training Materials

Written on February 22, 2010 by Marie-Claire Ross in OHS videos, company induction training, induction videos, safety videos, staff induction videos, staff training videos, training videos

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In a recent AFRBoss article, it was cited that an important trend over the next decade will be the shift from words to images in communication.

Rather than bombard people with an avalanche of reading material, people will prefer visual representation of data.

This isn’t a surprise given our time-poor, attention-scarce, give-it-to-me-now lifestyle.

So to future-proof and update training materials, now more than ever, there is growing importance for companies to use visuals to aid in learning.

After all, we remember:

10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we both hear and see

In fact, studies by educational researchers found that 83% of human learning occurs visually. Visually rich training materials keep the eyes busy and therefore, the brain more alert and active to learn information.

Yet, I often get amazed when I go through company training manuals how so few of them include pictures or even colour for that matter. And of course, very few of them use video as part of training.

“Something is happening. We are becoming a visually mediated society. For many, understanding of the world is being accomplished, not through words, but by reading images.”

Paul Martin Lester, “Syntactic Theory of Visual Communication”

What can you do to start making your training materials more visually appealing?

Improving Workplace Safety, Performance and Training through video

Tag Archive: safety training videos

Announcing New Training Video Best Practice Guide

How Using Quizzes in Induction Training Improves New Starter Learning

Announcing New Training Video Buyer’s Kit

7 Tips to Improve Induction Training Materials

How to Communicate Workplace Safety Messages

How to make your Induction Materials come to Life

We’ve won a Gold Award for Best Use of Video in a Training Program

Companies losing billions from poor safety, says Professor

Why do men feel the urge to insert sexual terms into workplace training materials?

The Importance of Using Visuals in your Training Materials

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