Hi All, I'm currently evaluating our training process for staff at my company. We have major problems getting staff released on a regular basis for training courses and as a result i'm looking to revamp our approach. For certain modules such as chemical awareness and fire safety awareness we can only get small groups of 3-4 people at time released due to the production processes and continous nature of the work. This would require running up to 30-40 indivdual sessions just to cover 1 training module with all staff. Due to this refresher period is 3 years on some of our limited courses. Costs of bringing in external trainers is huge due to this as well. I want to increase the frequency of training and increase our safety modules vastly as safety training has been limited. My option that i forsee as being the best option is to introduce e-learning. This would cover core modules, e.g. risk assessment, general fire awareness, chemical awareness, accident and near miss reporting, etc, etc. Obiviously certain thing will still need to be classroom/external like confined space entry, first aid, BA, etc but we could increase our training and frequency massively with e-learning. Certain providers of e-learning allow for their course content to be made bespoke to the organisations procedures and requirements so we can truely make the training applicable to our business and not just some generic content. What i would be interested in hearing is anyone who uses e-learning for their main training and if there have been any draw backs with it. It will be a significant initial cost to us so i would be very interested to hear of any pit falls prior to proceeding. Thanks for your time,

Hello, I am also in the same situation in my workplace, i was too thinking of using the E-learning way. I would appreciate if you do get any feedback about this if you could also let me know as well? Thanks Katie

I concur with Stephendclarke on this one, we have recently bought and introduced Cardinus fire safety (and mh for the workplace and workstation assessment). The process has gone smoothly, but it was costly, I'm sure that overall in terms of the issues mentioned previously it has still been cost efficient compared with running many physical courses for relatively small groups etc. The fire safety courses has been particularly well received, in fact i doubt I've had anything more than a handfull of gripes from routine complainers from a total of 1400 staff who have been asked to participate. Those who i have spoken with have appreciated the 30minutes at their desks to complete, rather than being pulled out of their work areas and asked to attend classrooms, and have commented on the ease of use of the packages. The only negative that i can think of, and it is a small one, is that you do still have to devote a good portion of admin time to the process, think, forgotten passwords, random I.T niggles. Outweighed by the positives though in my opinion particularly with regards to the workstation safety which has the advantage of teaching/ informing the individual about workstation issues whilst the person is sat at the workstation and can practise the new principles/ guidance. I Hope that helps. regards Nick