Using Safety Sequence
Safety Sequence activities are hands on, interactive, team training activities based on accelerated learning principles. With accelerated learning, trainees are more involved with their own learning and benefit from learning from their peers. The Safety Sequence activities are physical and require trainees to get up and move around. If used in the traditional way, trainees will themselves become part of the activity and final outcome. These Safety Sequence activities are visual, as each trainee must look closely at each illustration while also mentally connecting what they see to information they have already learned. Visual, or image based safety training activities, are especially good for trainees who may not have strong English language skills. So why accelerated learning? By using activities such as Safety Sequence, trainees can learn faster and remember information longer. Training is not focused on the Trainer or the training materials but on the outcome and that is most important.
Safety Sequence activities involve a list of steps for a particular work activity that must be completed in a particular order for the task to be done safely. To use Safety Sequence activities, you need to make one copy of the sequence for each team. It is very helpful to know how many trainee you will have before the class begins so you can prepare accordingly but if not, these activities are flexible enough that they can be used with any size team. The best situation occurs when you have enough trainees to assign one of the steps in a sequence to each member of a team. For example, if you are using the Safety Sequence activity for LockOut/TagOut, there are ten steps in the sequence so teams of ten trainees are best. In this case you would have a set of these 10 steps for each team so that each team member has their own illustration showing one of the 10 steps. If there are 30 trainees, you would make 3 sets of the LockOut/TagOut Safety Sequence packet.
If you have a number of trainees that does not match up nicely with the number of steps in the activity, you can have each trainee take two or three of the steps. Be creative! It is better to have trainees take more than one step than to have one trainee have none. That should not happen since the goal is to have everyone be involved and working together. The Safety Sequence activities also work for small groups. In these situations, each small team is given their own complete packet and asked to complete the activity on the floor or tabletop by spreading out the steps in the correct order. When one team has put the steps in the correct order and you have a winner, have everyone sit down except the winning team. Ask the members of the winning team to announce and describe their steps, in the correct order, to the rest of the class.
Safety Sequence activities involve a list of steps for a particular work activity that must be completed in a particular order for the task to be done safely. To use Safety Sequence activities, you need to make one copy of the sequence for each team. It is very helpful to know how many trainee you will have before the class begins so you can prepare accordingly but if not, these activities are flexible enough that they can be used with any size team. The best situation occurs when you have enough trainees to assign one of the steps in a sequence to each member of a team. For example, if you are using the Safety Sequence activity for LockOut/TagOut, there are ten steps in the sequence so teams of ten trainees are best. In this case you would have a set of these 10 steps for each team so that each team member has their own illustration showing one of the 10 steps. If there are 30 trainees, you would make 3 sets of the LockOut/TagOut Safety Sequence packet.
If you have a number of trainees that does not match up nicely with the number of steps in the activity, you can have each trainee take two or three of the steps. Be creative! It is better to have trainees take more than one step than to have one trainee have none. That should not happen since the goal is to have everyone be involved and working together. The Safety Sequence activities also work for small groups. In these situations, each small team is given their own complete packet and asked to complete the activity on the floor or tabletop by spreading out the steps in the correct order. When one team has put the steps in the correct order and you have a winner, have everyone sit down except the winning team. Ask the members of the winning team to announce and describe their steps, in the correct order, to the rest of the class.