Vocational Education and Training and the Development of Safe Workers (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Vocational Education and Training Research, 2020
Effective health and safety training can contribute to a reduction of workplace accidents and assist employers to meet their health and safety legal obligations as prescribed by health and safety legislation. This paper considers the competency requirements for trainers of health and safety within the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) context from a standards perspective. Currently, there are not specific specified requirements for these trainers, but rather generic requirements that apply to all trainers in the VET sector. An interpretive qualitative method utilizing observations based on a review of a range of sources, including published research, standards documents, general internet sources and industry publications is applied such that the health and safety training practices and environments in the VET sector are explored and described. Health and safety training, in order to be effective, warrants careful attention to the training environment, the training practices implemented and the skills and knowledge of the trainer. The role of standards for health and safety training, with ANSI/ASSE Z490.1-2016 and CAN/CSA Z1001-18b provided as examples, is considered and a these standards provide a basis for a proposed standardization for health and safety training practitioners in the Australian VET system. The findings offer inclusion of a specific training and assessment unit of competency in the TAE Training and Education Training Package to address the specific requirements for safety trainers, which then be used as a benchmark in the VET sector and by employers and industry. The paper, in conclusion, posits that inconsistent training practices and trainer qualifications could be minimized by utilizing a national, consensus-based standard on the training practices in health and safety training, which can be achieved through a competency specification.
Occupational safety and health education and training: an innovative format and experience
6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20), 2020
Health begins at home and in community where people live and work, in fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being’. Experts and professionals, of all sectors and specialities, need to take account the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in all aspects of their working lives. Mainstreaming OSH into education concerns integrating one policy area – OSH – into another – education. This study started from a first analysis of an international and national OSH training offer, in which some critical aspects emerged: there are mostly sectoral training courses, qualifying some prevention actor roles, most linked to traditional risks, and primarily focused on the safety aspects rather than the health ones. The current study is related to an innovative format and experience for an integrated management of OSH in the evolution of the world of work. The concept was born from the need to train new professionals figures w...
Harmonised health and safety legislation in Australia: Confusion and complexity for training remains
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Professional safety, 2010
ITHASBEENALMOST 40YEARS since the passage of the OSH Act, yet, parents, students and the general public often still wonder exactly what the SH&E profession is or does. Conventional wisdom often claims safety to be “common sense.” Safety and security are the very bases of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and most parents have told their kids to “be safe.” However, what does it mean to be safe at the worksite? Although the practice of safety has been around for generations, it seems to be a profession that high school or college students do not quickly recognize. Anecdotally, it is apparent that more-established professions, such as medicine or law, do not seem to suffer this same sort of identity crisis. People generally know what physicians and attorneys do. Adding to the image issues surrounding the profession is the failure to develop a universally or legally accepted definition of safety professional. Developing and defending a professional title has typically been the purview of the...
Emerging Issues of Health and Safety Training Delivery in Australia: Quality and Transferability
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2012
This paper presents some initial findings that have emerged from a critical realist study in progress in Western Australia that is examining the impact of health and safety training in relation to the introduction of a national Work Health and Safety Act (WHS Act). Training has been identified as a key support mechanism to implement improved work health and safety under the newly harmonised regulatory framework through professional development, workplace certificated training, and tertiary educational training. There are a limited number of studies that evaluating safety training programmes by examining the quality of training and the impact on reducing work-related injury. This paper addresses this issue, indicating the impact and opportunities for safety and health training from the perspective of diverse managing stakeholders within the system and concludes by calling for research to evaluate training that monitors and supports quality delivery standards and transferability of the learning into the workplace.
Perceptions of Safety Knowledge and Skills in Vocational Training
International Education Studies, 2016
This research aims at investigating the perceptions towards safety knowledge and skills and perceived efficacies among flight attendants onboard. Many studies have reported deficiencies in vocational training among flight attendants to handle specific onboard emergencies, but these findings are not surprising as knowledge and skills that are not put into active use have been shown to deteriorate or decay significantly even over very short intervals. To further understand the issue, an In-flight Safety Assurance Model is presented and data were collected and analyzed following this model. The findings revealed low perception and efficacy levels which highlight the need to establish Continuous Professional Development programs through making use of educational technology and multimedia.
A review on safety practitioners’ competency profiles from the employers’ perspective
Journal of Educational Research and Review, 2021
To ensure fewer accidents and injuries to workers on construction sites, it is essential to review the recruitment practices, job duties and relevant study areas of safety practitioners, named as safety officers in Hong Kong. Therefore, the current study aims to assess the current recruitment requirements, job duties and study areas relevant to junior safety practitioners in different organizations to possibly review and improve the curriculum for the Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health programmes. A questionnaire was designed and distributed to senior personnel in organizations recruiting safety practitioners for the development, implementation and maintenance of a safety management system in their companies. A total of 36 companies participated in the study, and the data were analysed using score frequency and mean score. The results reveal the followings: (1) A recruitment requirement of organizations for safety-related posts is a degree in occupational health and safety or a certificate and/or diploma in occupational health and safety. (2) The most common junior safety officers' job duties include conducting safety inspections in the workplace; preparing a safety inspection reports; assisting in safety training and education programmes; and assisting in executing a safety management system and audits. (3) The most relevant taught subjects to junior safety officers' job duties include ''Occupational Safety and Health Legislation'', ''Safety Management and Audit'' and ''Construction Safety''. Based on the outcome of the study, various recommendations are available for policy makers and educational institutions.
Assessment of Vocational Training and Workplace Safety from the Injured Worker Perspective
Turkish Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2013
Objectives To determine the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of occupational accident patients who were admitted to a third level emergency unit and assess vocational training and workplace safety from the injured workers' perspective. Methods A questionnaire was given to 506 patients aged 15 years and older between April and May 2011. Results The average age of the patients was 33 years old. The sector with the highest numbers of injuries was the metal and metal-based products industry (29.1%). The hour in which accidents occurred most often was the sixth hour (16.8%). Most of the injuries were minor (85.8%). The most frequent type of injury was penetrating wounds (35.6%). The most commonly affected area was the extremities (51.8%). 95.5% of the patients were treated as outpatients. Patients who were high school graduates were revealed to have had more training in comparison to primary and intermediate school graduates (p=0.001). The most common reasons for primary school graduates to experience occupational accidents were found to be the lack of necessary precautions inside the working environment, insufficient measures taken to prevent accidents, and a stressful workplace environment (p=0.016). Workers between the ages of 15 and 25, along with those who had worked for less than six months, were exposed to more occupational accidents when compared with all other workers (p=0.002, p=0.001, respectively). Conclusions Our study suggested that unqualified workers with low-level training do not receive sufficient vocational training and that they work in unsafe and stressful environments.