Posted By Karel Simpson Hi, I am looking into ways into making the training I deliver a bit more fun for the trainees, i.e. safety games or little practical exercises that can be fun and add strengths to the point getting across, the training is construction safety various categories and I am using practical equipment, just wondering if anyone out there has any ideas how to liven the training up so to speak. Like I mentioned around the safety theme is what I am after and also short duration ideas i.e. say 10 - 15 mins max just to break it up a little. Any ideas welcomed. Regards Karel

Posted By GARRY WIZZ For the inspection of plant equipment, I used to hide 50p in the plant, if it was inspected correctly in the time allowed they would find it. Then they had to buy me a cuppa. I was 30p out of pocket but what the heck. Garry

Posted By Lilian McCartney Hi Karel, I recently used a wee game to break up training where I had three sets of cards 1 hazard 2 risk 3 workplace precautions each set on different coloured cards they'd to match the hazard to the risk to the workplace precaution The 'result' was that alhtough I had matched there was more than one answer and this got a good discussion going. I'd picked hazards from their workplace and accident forms etc. It went so well they all asked for copies for their teams (it was a managers refresher course). Good result Id say from a basic idea I'd seen on another type of course. Lilian

Posted By Karel Simpson Thank you again. I am sure if anyonr wanted to comment on ways to present information best others may be interested in hearing this as well. Definately going to utilise these ideas if I can. Regards

Posted By Karel Simpson Also as well as ideas to liven up the training does anybody know of good resources for short video clips?

Posted By Mir-cat Sorry if this is too late - only just seen it. I had a mixed day of training set and because H&S law can seem "boring" I used some precedent setting case law and made cards of the 'case' which I gave out having set them in teams of two person. I then asked them to decide what they thought the verdict was e.g who won (in their terminology). I drew up a matrix on a flip chart and marked down their answers. Then, when they were all up on the board I told them the actual verdict and we got into some quite deep debates as to why this verdict had been awarded. Made them think and they didn't realise they should have been bored!! This exercise probably took (without debate) about 30 - 45 mins depending on size of class and how many questions etc. You can, of course, use any variation of this to cover whatever subject you want to get across. Even I enjoyed it and the course then went on through other areas which all the time can be linked back (if you choose your subject carefully) to the law. Good luck

Posted By Julide I have a huge file with several tips to get the training interactive along with many icebreakers. just check your mail soon. kind regards, Julide

Posted By Elizabeth Tomlin Dear Karel, Firstly, Karel, would you be so kind as to ask Julide to email the list of training ideas to me, too? I am a safety consultant with Virginia's OSHA program (ie. VOSH in the USA) and our client constituents are always asking for new ideas on ways to increase employee retention of safety and health training. Here is another "safety game" idea that you may find helpful. One of our state's SHARP program employer's came up with this one. This particular General Industry employer has about 55 employees. They have a concrete production plant where they make concrete block and also batch and deliver cement and concrete to building sites. They hold short - about 5 to 10 minutes long - weekly "tool box" safety meetings on selected topics that are required attendance for all their employees. Then every three months they have a "safety quiz game" in place of the weekly safety meeting. Everyone at the meeting is given a random number and then the numbers are used to divide the group into two teams. Teams are randomized to prevent the development of "established teams". Each team then picks a team leader and straws are drawn to see which team goes first. One other rule is that a given individual can only be a team leader once in a given year - again to prevent the tendency for the employees to always count on just one person to give all the answers. At this point the safety meeting presenter starts asking very specific questions based on the contents of the safety meeting topics that everyone attended during the last three months. The team that goes first "think tanks" their answer and their team leader then gives the answer for the team. If their answer is correct, the group is given one scratch lottery ticket. If the first team gives the wrong answer or their "thinking" time runs out, the question devolves to the second team. A team can also "pass" the question to the other team. If the second team accepts the question and gives the correct answer, then their team gets two scratch lottery tickets. The next new question starts with the second team and so on. The meeting presenter usually asks about 30 questions - or until the number of purchased scratch lottery tickets is used up. These cost one US dollar per ticket so the expense is fairly minimal. At the end of the quiz, each team "scratches" their tickets to see what the team won and then they divide their winnings equally among the team members. Of course sometimes the winnings aren't a lot, but on several occasions a team has had the good fortune to "split" several thousand dollars. The employees are very enthusiastic about the "quizzes" and their retention of safety topic training has shot up. Behaviorally speaking (i.e. per the well known behaviorist B.F. Skinner) this safety game has the advantage of being a "randomly rewarded" stimulus response positive behavior (SR+) which is the hardest type of behavior to "extinguish", therefore the "subjects", i.e. the employees, are more likely to maintain a high level of interest and involvement in this program. Of course not every business holds weekly meetings. Some hold bi-monthly or monthly or even quarterly meetings, but the idea is readily adaptable and is fairly inexpensive to implement - especially for smaller employers whose safety funds are limited. I hope this idea will be helpful to you. Best regards, Elizabeth