Health and safety elearning with multiple benefits
Due to having a fatal injury rate 17 times higher than the average across all other industries, nowhere is health and safety elearning more important than in the waste management sector. Cory Group, one of the UK’s leading waste management and recycling companies, approached Dynamic with a requirement to digitise its Health and Safety Induction training.
Background
Historically, Cory Group’s health and safety training this been facilitated in a face-to-face format which was largely effective, but there was now a keen appetite to:
- drive consistency in health and safety induction training standards
- support organisational agility through a more digitally enabled training strategy
- keep staff up to date with the latest requirements in a convenient and cost-effective manner
- establish a sustainable paperless induction training record process.
Health and Safety training is essential to employee safety in any organisation, but especially important in the waste management industry, which the HSE recognises as being one of the most dangerous industries in the UK. With a fatal injury rate much higher than the average across all other industries, common causes include being struck by moving vehicles and contact with moving machinery.
Additionally, around 4,000 waste management workers per year sustain non-fatal injuries, with prevalent incidents involving slips, trips, falls and handling heavy materials. Cory’s needed elearning materials which engaged with a diverse workforce, changed behaviours and created a lasting impact.
Title
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
Title
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
Title
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
Title
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
Title
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
Title
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,
The challenges
Like many organisations, traditional face-to-face learning was the mainstay of Cory’s training strategy, so transitioning to digital required a thoughtful approach to ensure that the health and safety training remained effective, accessible and aligned with legal requirements.
This presented some challenges:
No Learning Management System (LMS): at the time, Cory didn’t have a centralised platform to deploy digital training and track its completion. And with user progress bookmarking also being LMS functionality, we need to explore workarounds.
Tracking completion: whilst the absence of a LMS denied automated completion tracking, the learning solution still needed to offer a digital approach to avoid line managers and Human Resources being encumbered with a manual recording process.
Language and accessibility barriers: the legally underpinned and text-heavy content was complex, particularly for many employees who don’t speak English as a first language. Content simplification without dilution was essential.
Blended learning: by nature of the industry and its associated Health and Safety-related duties and procedures, the digital solution needed to incorporate a blended approach that balanced theoretical knowledge with practical application.
Engagement and navigation: to drive engagement and retention, we needed to incorporate a visually engaging interactive menu that reflected the operation and brand identity.
Our approach
To address these challenges, we partnered closely with Cory’s subject matter experts and its Learning and Development team to ensure our solution was not only tailored to their unique needs, but also designed to enhance content accessibility, maintain legal compliance, and create an engaging digital learning experience for its intended audience. To achieve this, we:
Restructured and enhanced the content
We began by reviewing the existing Health and Safety Induction learning materials to organise the content into a clear logical structure. The language was then refined and simplified to improve its accessibility to those employees for whom English was not their first language.
Produced creative media
To aid knowledge retention and keep textual content as minimal as possible, we designed and produced creative media elements, such as diagrams, illustrations, motion graphic and presenter-led video, and interactive components, to convey and reinforce key learning.
Developed an interactive learning module
With no LMS in place, we carefully selected an authoring tool that allowed for free navigation (necessary in the absence of LMS-enabled progress bookmarking) and user-friendly interaction.
Ceated a bespoke visual menu
To enhance user engagement, we developed a custom-coded parallax scrolling menu that subtly represented Cory’s operations and geographical area. This interactive, visually rich design added a branded touch to the learning experience whilst making its navigation intuitive and enjoyable.
Developed a workaround tracking solution
To meet the need for digital completion tracking in the absence of a LMS, whilst also integrating a blended approach to the learning, we designed and produced an interactive PDF workbook that was attached to the module.
Ensured consistency in training delivery
By digitising the induction, we ensured that every employee received the same high-quality Health and Safety training. This eliminated variations in delivery through face-to-face methods, providing a consistent learning experience across the organisation.
Rewarding and award-winning
In addition, this learning links directly into the school curriculum. Teachers can now download a lesson plan, created from the basis of the careers map. As part of the lesson plan, learning intentions include pupils understanding what role they could play in a climate-conscious company and how they might think about what other skills and qualifications they could achieve in future.
Scottish Water was named winners of the Early Careers Award at the TIARA Talent Acquisition Awards, and the careers map formed part of the entry submission. Scottish Water was recognised for its innovative modern and graduate apprenticeship programs, supported by an in-house skills academy together with its dedication to equality and community engagement.
Conclusion and feedback
Through a combination of innovating our approach to elearning, interactive design and multimedia storytelling, Dynamic has successfully delivered a resource that aligns with our client’s goals of making more people aware of the range of career opportunities within Scottish Water and the wider sector. The career map stands out as a dynamic, future-proof and engaging career exploration tool, reinforcing Scottish Water’s commitment to inspiring the next generation of professionals.
A small selection of the great user feedback, includes:
"So interactive and inviting. You instantly want to take a look at all the different sections and feel that you're being taken on a very visual, informative and interesting journey."
"Really brilliant. So informative, but fun too. No big words or waffle. Just clear, straight to the point information."
"Wasn't too text heavy which is good. Interesting to see real faces and hear about different career paths and entry points to the sector. The graphics depicting the required skills were really good, easy to digest and relatable."
"Very user friendly and informative. I didn’t realise there were so many different jobs at Scottish Water."
