Health and Safety Learning Outcomes 6

Contents

Introduction 5

Overview 5

Health and safety learning outcomes 6

Reading, writing and speaking outcomes 6

Where will trainees come across these concepts in their workplace? 7

Questions your trainees might ask you 7

Word list 8

Resources 8

How to write new examples 8

Training strategies you can use in this session 9

Indicators trainees could have literacy and numeracy issues 9

Websites 10

Before the training session 11

Trainer session plan 12

Handout 1: Matching cards 17

Introduction

This Trainer Guide gives you information so you can deliver a training session for Workbook 2 in this series of four workbooks.

The series of workbooks not only provide information about health and safety but also contain a number of activities to develop trainees’ reading, writing, speaking, listening and some numeracy skills. These skills are essential when dealing with health and safety at work. Trainees have to read safety instructions, fill in hazard forms, speak to team mates about health and safety and listen at health and safety meetings.

The workbooks have been designed to be used as a self-paced resource by trainees who have the reading and writing skills to go through the workbook. The trainees you are working with will have lower level skills and need assistance to go through the workbook or they might be a mixed group – some needing assistance and some able to read the workbook easily. Both situations are covered in this guide.

When trainees complete all four workbooks, they should have evidence for assessment against:

·  health and safety units standards (for example Unit Standard 497 Demonstrate knowledge of workplace health and safety requirements (version 7) Level 1, 3 credits)

·  Unit Standard 25060 Independently read texts for practical purposes and to gain knowledge (version 1) Level 1, 6 credits

·  Unit Standard 3490 Complete an incident report (version 5) Level 1, 2 credits.

Overview

This trainer guide contains:

·  health and safety learning outcomes for the workbook

·  reading, writing and speaking outcomes for the workbook

·  questions your trainees might ask and some suggested answers – you need to adjust these for your workplace

·  a word list of specialised words used in the workbook and their meanings

·  resources required for the training session

·  training strategies you can use that help with developing reading, writing, speaking and listening skills

·  information to help you work out when trainees might have reading, speaking or listening needs and what you can do

·  websites that you could use in this training session.

For more information on adult literacy and numeracy in New Zealand, please visit www.literacyandnumeracyforadults.org.nz

Health and safety learning outcomes

By the end of this training session, trainees will be able to:

·  identify a range of employer’s responsibilities relating to key sections in the Act:

o  Section 6 – safe and healthy workplace, facilities (first aid), plant and equipments, managing hazards, emergency procedures

o  Section 7 – identify hazards

o  Section 8 – must first try to eliminate hazards

o  Section 9 – if can’t eliminate hazards then must isolate hazards

o  Section 10 – if can’t eliminate or isolate hazards then must minimise them

o  Section 11 – tell employees about monitoring

o  Section 12 – tell employees about hazards, emergency procedures, where safety equipment is kept

o  Section 13 – train and supervise employees

o  Part 2A – employees’ involvement in developing health and safety procedures

o  Section 15 – keep visitors safe

o  Section 25 – record and report accidents

·  identify rights and responsibilities – employer’s and employees’

·  identify right to refuse work – must have reasonable grounds, must talk to your employer about the issue and must do other work

·  identify health and safety representatives - who are they and what do they do?

·  identify penalties for employers – improvement, prohibition and infringement notices, prosecutions.

Reading, writing and speaking outcomes

By the end of this training session, trainees will be able to:

·  build new vocabulary about health and safety

·  review their knowledge of text features

·  describe different things they can do when they don’t understand a word

·  describe their purpose for reading and a writer’s purpose for writing

·  describe different things they can do when they don’t understand what they are reading

·  identify information and instruction documents

·  describe the text features of information and instruction documents

·  describe different things they can do when they don’t understand what they are reading

·  make notes about incidents and accidents

·  describe the text features of the Department of Labour accident form.

Where will trainees come across these concepts in their workplace?

·  Every day when you are doing your job.

·  Working as part of your team.

·  Understanding your employment agreement.

·  Understanding the health and safety rules at work.

·  Participating in health and safety meetings.

Questions your trainees might ask you

·  I am really careful about health and safety. I won’t get hurt. I don’t need to learn all this.
(Everyone needs to know about health and safety, it is not just what you do but what others do as well.)

·  We haven’t had an accident for years – we don’t need to know all this.
(We haven’t had an accident because we work really hard at having a safe workplace. You have to keep working on health and safety.)

·  Why do we have to know about the Act?
(The Act is really important. You can’t say later “I didn’t know that.” You need to know what you have to do and what the company has to do. Health and safety is about all of us working together.)

·  Health and safety is just common sense – why do we have to learn this?
(Sometimes it is the little things that cause the problems – like tripping over a hose. You have to be aware of it all the time.)

Word list

Here are some specialised words we use in Workbook 2 and what those words mean.

Word / Means
Duties / Same as responsibilities – things you have to do.
Eliminate / Get rid of.
Emergency / Sudden state of danger requiring immediate action.
Emergency procedures / A list of what to do in an emergency.
Hazard / Something that can injure you or make you sick.
Isolate / Put behind a barrier.
Minimise / Reduce or make smaller.
Monitoring / Keeping track of.
Practicable / Reasonable or common practice.
Prosecute / Take someone to court because they have broken the law.
Register / A list.
Serious harm / Harm caused by an injury, such as burns or the loss of a body part, that could cause death or the person to go to hospital.

Learning new words takes a lot of practice. It is not enough to go over a new word once or twice. There is research that says you need to see or hear a word at least 40 times before it becomes part of your vocabulary. So during your training session make sure you emphasise words your trainees don’t know and reinforce what those words mean.

Resources

You will need a whiteboard or flipchart for this training session. The other resources you will need are listed in the session plan.

Before you deliver the training session, collect actual examples of workplace documents used in your workplace that are relevant to the content of this workbook. You can also rewrite any examples used in the workbook so they are more relevant to your workplace.

How to write new examples

Look at any examples in the workbook. Think about the purpose of each example. Think of a similar situation in your workplace. Think about the trainees you are writing your example for. Make sure you don’t use language that is too difficult and don’t make the example too long. If you can, find a picture from your workplace that links to the example.

Training strategies you can use in this session

·  Modelling – demonstrating and role-plays.

·  Prompting – make links with what trainees already know, use reminders such as “How do you know that?” and “What did you do last time?”

·  Discussion – promote and acknowledge trainees talking about things, get trainees more involved in the training.

·  Questioning – plan your questions, use both open and closed questions, wait for trainees to think and then answer you. Don’t just use who, why, what etc, also use ‘what if’ etc. Use follow-up questions when trainees are speaking such as, “Then what happened?”

·  Giving feedback – tell trainees what they are doing well and what they need to improve on.

·  Explaining – fill any gaps trainees may have in their knowledge, give clear directions and instructions.

Indicators trainees could have literacy and numeracy issues

Here are some signs that show a trainee may have literacy or numeracy issues, based on the trainee’s writing:

·  Hard to read handwriting that is mix of printing and writing.

·  Words are written in a mixture of upper and lower case letters (e.g. haZArd).

·  Spelling of common words is phonetic (e.g. cubberd for cupboard).

·  Lack of basic punctuation (e.g. no capital letters at the beginning of sentences, no full-stops, no spaces between words).

·  Lack of sentence structure (e.g. sentence doesn’t make sense, words in the wrong places, key words missing).

·  Very short answers given when longer answers would have been more appropriate

You may also observe some other things that show a trainee may have literacy or numeracy issues. Make sure you observe these things yourself – don’t rely on what other people tell you.

A trainee may:

·  give reasons that mean they don’t have to read or write something (e.g. broke or forgotten glasses, pen has run out, sprained wrist)

·  panic or become aggressive in situations where they are asked to read or write something (e.g. becomes fidgety, sweats a lot, makes fun of the task)

·  make excuses to leave a situation where they are asked to read or write something (e.g. another appointment, important job forgotten, got to make afternoon tea)

·  get ready to write but never put pen to paper (e.g. holds pen as if to write, holds pen in a very awkward manner that would make writing very difficult)

·  not show any understanding during a training session – understanding is shown through things such as nodding at appropriate times, participating in discussions, maintaining eye contact (unless culturally inappropriate)

·  give vague answers to questions and not ask any questions to check their understanding.

Sometimes a trainee might tell you that they can’t read or write or spell. Telling you this is a big deal for that trainee. If they want to improve their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, encourage them to speak to someone at work who won’t make fun of them or use the information in the wrong way (e.g. tell other people so it stops the trainee getting a promotion).

You could encourage your trainee to talk to:

·  their supervisor or team leader

·  union delegate or health and safety representative or learning representative

·  HR manager.

You could also contact your ITO and find out how they can help.

Websites

Here are some websites that relate to the topics in this session plan. Have a look at the websites before your training session. Choose the ones that suit your trainees. You could use some of these websites with any trainees who have better reading, writing, speaking and listening skills than the rest of your group.

·  http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1992/0096/latest/DLM279213.html – Section 6 of the Act – The employer to ensure the health and safety of the employee.

·  http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1992/0096/latest/DLM279602.html – Section 28A of the Act – Employees may refuse work likely to cause harm.

·  http://worksafereps.org.nz/toolkit/guides/hsact#attachments – Three 1-page fact sheets about the Act – Employer, participation and enforcement.

·  http://worksafereps.org.nz/helpdesk/legislation/hsact – This resource gives a short definition of the Health and Safety Act.

·  http://worksafereps.org.nz/helpdesk/accidents – A worker’s rights at work in relation to hazards and accidents.

·  http://worksafereps.org.nz/helpdesk/reps – The law regarding having a health and safety representative.

·  http://worksafereps.org.nz/legislation/hseguide3 - Information about enforcing the law, refusing unsafe work, and calling an OSH inspector.

·  http://worksafereps.org.nz/helpdesk/hazards – An interactive resource containing hazards information, hazards notice and hazard plan, as specified in the Act:

o  http://worksafereps.org.nz/helpdesk/hazards/information

o  http://worksafereps.org.nz/helpdesk/hazards/notice

o  http://worksafereps.org.nz/helpdesk/hazards/plan

·  www.safework.sa.gov.au/contentPages/EducationAndTraining/TrainingKits/WHSTrainingResourceKit/whsKit/contents.htm – An Australian resource from the book Workplace Health and Safety by Workcover and TAFE, with support from the Australian Government. It covers all aspects of health and safety for workers with low literacy. The interactive activities are done online. Excellent pictures and resource.

·  www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W9MtIBlHdo – A short video put out by OSH about a comedian talking about following the rules (0:33 min).

Before the training session

·  Go through the workbook so you know what it covers.

·  Go through the session plan so you know what you have to do.

·  Collect relevant workplace documents.

·  Get any handouts ready.

·  Highlight the extension activities you are going to use.

Best wishes for your training session.

Trainer session plan

Time / LN skills being developed / Trainer activities /
Reviewing Workbook 1 / 1.  Welcome trainees. Ask them how they got on with their action cards. Get each trainee to say at least one thing. Get them to fill in the activity on page 5. They can copy their action cards from Workbook 1 if they need to. If they haven’t already talked about something they did at home or at work, ask them how have they used the health and safety information they learnt at home and work. Write this up on the whiteboard. Then get them to complete the top of page 6. Then have the same discussion about reading, writing and speaking skills. Write these up too. Get trainees to complete the bottom of page 6.