Need help explaining the basics of occupational hygiene to corporate managers, workers and others?
Help has arrived!
OHTA was formed in 2010 to advance the practice of occupational hygiene around the world. Our fundamental mission is to provide consistent, quality training on the technical aspects of occupational hygiene practice at the entry and intermediate levels.
But experience has taught us that a critical first step in developing an occupational hygiene program is to explain to corporate executives, front-line managers, safety personnel, and workers themselves the basic principles of our profession that can create a safe and healthy workplace. To reach this audience, a different type of training is required.
So OHTA volunteers got to work...
A NEW COURSE FOR A NEW TARGET AUDIENCE
OHTA is pleased to announce the availability of a new course which is an Occupational Safety and Health Awareness Overview. This online course provides fundamental knowledge on hazard recognition and control measures that can be utilized to create a healthy work environment. It is designed for managers, supervisors, safety committees, and anyone interested in the protection of workers and themselves from workplace hazards.
Topics include:
Chemical and physical hazards
Ergonomics
Bloodborne pathogens
Personal protective equipment
Fire prevention
The course has been developed in partnership with the Phylmar Academy, a division of the Phylmar Group. Our sincere thanks go to the following people for their contributions: Course Editor Dr. Zack Mansdorf (OHTA Lead), Cass Ben-Levi (Phylmar Group), Marianne Levitsky, Chris Laszcz-Davis, Debbie Dietrich, Melissa Gould, David Hiipakka and Dr. Ross Di Corleto.
To register for the OHTA Any Time Online Awareness Level Course simply click the button below and nagivate to the course title, where you can also find out more about the Phylmar Academy. The Awareness course is self-directed, independent study and takes less than three hours to complete.
In the following paragraphs, you will be inspired by the words of Jennifer Galvin from Workplace Health Without Borders as she explains how WHWB took the OHTA Awareness Course to a new level to meet their global training needs.
OHTA and WHWB are two non-profit organizations in occupational hygiene that are perfect partners. Both organizations are passionately committed to occupational health and safety (OH&S) training globally. OHTA's primary mission is the development of training materials through volunteer efforts that are available for free download or any time online learning. OHTA also has a team of fully vetted Approved Training Providers (ATPs) that offer live online and in-person courses around the world. Similarly, a key mission of WHWB is to share their OH&S expertise through training provided by their global team of volunteers. Given our shared goals, the OHTA and WHWB partnership has worked well for years.
However, when the pandemic created travel restrictions, WHWB volunteers had to reconsider how they could not only deliver training, but also build the relationships necessary for their sustainable training program. So, like many others, WHWB decided to pivot from the in-person classes that they traditionally offered to online training. The OHTA Awareness Level Course was the perfect fit for their new on-line training approach. In addition, WHWB had the advantage of using what they had learned from their in-person training experiences in the past to help build a better learning system that overcomes barriers to training such as:
Limited study time of participants who work full-time jobs
Language differences
Time zone differences
Cost
Pandemic
NEW TRAINING MODEL FOR OHTA AWARENESS COURSE
All things considered, WHWB decided to offer the new OHTA Awareness Level course in a new training model. They offered the course as a blend of asynchronous and synchronous learning supplemented with independent discussion groups in the preferred language:
Asynchronous - participants studied the online course in their own time.
Synchronous - once per week a discussion group or tutorial was held in the preferred language with case studies, homework, and lots of discussion.
To successfully use this teaching model for diverse participants, WHWB partnered with many OH professionals who were fluent in the required languages. Fortunately, WHWB has members all over the world who were more than willing to help.
THE OUTCOME SO FAR
In its initial release from February 15 - March 18, 2021, WHWB offered the OHTA Awareness Course to 48 participants in 17 countries in three languages; French, Portuguese, and English. Given the success evidenced, WHWB will continue to offer the OHTA Awareness course. Details and contact information are provided near the end of this publication.
A GLOBAL EFFORT
To achieve this successful outcome, the partnership of OHTA and WHWB was expanded through partnerships with OSHAfrica, University of Brasilia, the International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA), the Belgian Center for Occupational Hygiene (BeCOH), and the French Occupational Hygienists Society (SOFHYT). Special thanks go to some new WHWB Board members who were instrumental in developing the course in the new model including Dr. Vanessa Cruvinel, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Brasilia in Brazil and Mr. Ehi Iden, Executive Director OSHAfrica in Lagos, Nigeria. They also had direct interaction with those individuals in their country who were looking for OH training.
WHWB members who speak various languages were asked for their help in teaching or finding instructors for the OHTA Awareness class using Zoom as the virtual conferencing service. Having the tutors and participants in the same time zone overcame a huge logistical barrier. To help with the weekly question and answer sessions, the primary tutor arranged for other tutors in the same geographical area, speaking the same language, keeping the training fresh and interactive. Also, each language group had a coordinator who set up the tutorial session at a time/day that was acceptable for the participants.
Even though the cost of the OHTA Awareness Course is a modest fee of $50 USD, this is a large sum for participants in some countries. So WHWB Board member, Steven Verpaele, who is also the Co-Chair of OHTA and the President of the Belgian Center for Occupational Hygiene (BeCOH) stepped in to help. Under his leadership, BeCOH financially supported the cost of training 100 participants which covered the cost for the 48 students trained by WHWB in early 2021. BeCOH also helped with course registration which included electronic access to the course material, the exam, and the course evaluations. Sage advice came from the African continent Board member, Ehi Iden, who suggested that we refer to the free registration as a scholarship. In this way, participants “will feel engaged and will actively pursue the training. We want them to value this opportunity.”
ADDITIONAL COURSE DETAILS
The training started with a kick-off meeting for tutors, coordinators, and participants using Zoom for friendly introductions along with training on the use of the online, interactive course material. Participants were then emailed their individual password and sign-in information for the online portion of the class so they could begin study on their own schedule.
The course ended with a wrap-up session that included instructions for the final exam and for the course evaluation. The course evaluation was two-tiered; one part focusing on the online course material and the other on the teaching process using the synchronous/asynchronous learning in their preferred language. The participants were also asked how they planned to use what they learned in the course to help us understand the impact of their learning using this process.
WHWB COMMENTS ON LESSONS LEARNED
AND FUTURE PLANS
WHWB plans to offer the Awareness Level course in the future and will incorporate all that we have learned thus far. For example, we learned that participants are from very diverse backgrounds and included professionals from an investment group, a national park service, and a human resources department along with traditional OHS professionals from industries such as mining and oil and gas. WHWB will use this knowledge to pursue sustainable OHS training, but we will also cast our nets wider, ask bigger questions about who needs this training, and definitely try to find more tutors who speak the language of the participants.
To get more information on the blended OHTA Awareness Level Course offered through WHWB, with both asynchronous and synchronous learning, please email training@whwb.org to receive a reply on course availability in French, Portuguese, or English. Please note; at the time of publication, there is a temporary delay for the course in Portuguese and English. Please also note that WHWB is trying to find additional funding sources so they can offer grants to more participants. However, this is still in process and cannot be guaranteed.
Jennifer Galvin
Chair, WHWB Training Committee
Oklahoma, USA
Ehi Iden
WHWB Board member
Founding CEO of Occupational Health and Safety Managers
Head of Faculty at OSHversity
President of OSHAfrica
Lagos, Nigeria
Dr. Vanessa Cruvinel
WHWB Board Member
Co-chair WHWB International Waste Workers Occ Safety & Health Committee
Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Brasilia
Brasilia, Brazil
Steven Verpaele
Co-Chair OHTA
WHWB Board member
President of the Belgian Center for Occupational Hygiene
OH at the Nickel Institute
Gistel, Belgium
We'd love to hear from you!
If you have any feedback on this newsletter or would like to suggest a topic for a future edition, please email Deborah Dietrich or Jason Hodgkiss.
