Revision challenges

This wasn't quite how I imagined my revision week. Sitting with steaming cups of hot coffee whilst I poured over exam questions, with Debussy playing in the background. Not sitting next to an 8 year old, explaining fire extinguishers to him so that he can test me. This would be the week the children choose to be ill. Not the same day of course. One on Monday, one on Friday.

I'm not sure which topic to revise this afternoon. Perhaps, since we've started cycling to school this week, we should look at risk assessment in more detail...

Some action at last

The last two sessions have been better. Last week we did some hazard spotting exercises. OK, so the hazards we were being asked to spot weren't relevant to the topic under discussion. We were supposed to be dealing with fire in the morning and chemical and biological hazards in the afternoon, and the hazard spotting exercise (presented in Powerpoint, of course) was mostly construction site hazards. But we had to do something. We had to engage our brains. Then this week we had a mini-practice for our practical exam. No preparation by the tutor it seemed as we didn't have any forms to complete. But we walked around the outside of the building and back in the front door, spotting slippery surfaces, unmarked and blocked fire escapes and combustion hazards on our way. Good wake-up activity after sitting in heavy traffic for longer than normal. In the afternoon we had a video on manual handling. I've complained before that the tutor seems to use videos in order to take a rest (or normally a phone call) but on this occasion we were given check sheets to complete whilst we watched the video. At different stages we had to identify and classify manual handling hazards. An excellent use of video. Oh, but I forgot to mention. The video and the check sheets were provided by one of the other students on the course, and not the tutor….

PS As I was getting into my car to go home, I noticed two of the other students doing their little bit to reduce the combustion hazard outside the hotel by removing some of the log pile from outside the front door. Every little bit of risk reduction helps…..

There must be another way...

So we started NGC2. My brain hurts. Whilst I understood most of the NGC1 topics (risk assessment, culture, safety management etc) I could cope with the limits of the teaching technique. When I found my mind wondering off to other matters during an anecdote which had little to do with the PowerPoint list on the screen, I could at least read the book and see what stuff we were supposed to be covering.

But now we’re tackling the big stuff. Things like mechanical handling. Hoists and lifts. During his third lifting anecdote of the afternoon I lost it. I had no idea what he was talking about. Banksmen, slinging, accessories. My brain was crying out for a picture of what he was talking about. He missed another opportunity for active learning. Suppose he drew two sketches – one showing how this lifting equipment should have been used, another showing how the miscreant worker was using it. Then ask us what could go wrong and why. I might have learnt something then.

I came across another NEBOSH trainer today who really seem to understand there are other ways to learn. Obviously, I can't recommend them from their website but search for "NEBOSH plasticine" and take a look for yourself!

Half empty or half full?

So we've reached the end of NCG 1, the management of Health and Safety. Although I’ve found the teaching method less than inspiring, I do feel it's been worthwhile. There’s no rocket science in NGC 1. It's stuff we pick up in the process of working with health and safety. But it's stuff we might normally have difficulty explaining in a coherent way. Like we all know the difference between civil and criminal law don’t we? But can we list 6 differences, including maximum penalties for each? I don’t think I’ve learnt any thing completely new, but I feel I have a better structure for explaining what I already knew. For example, we can all agree that organisations should do health and safety, but structuring an argument for it around moral, legal and financial reasons is more convincing than "because we should"; I could previously have rambled on about "safe systems of work", but breaking it down into safe environment, safe equipment, safe material and safe people helps to prompt a more comprehensive description, and show that it needs more than common sense to get it right.

PIGS RISE: applying hierarchies of control

In Elements 5 and 6 of the management unit of NGC we were presented with a bewildering variety of hierarchies for control measures. An opportunity for active learning was missed in that we were not asked to apply these schemes. I was presented with an example during a conversation with one of our local pre-school teachers. She had been told the children were not allowed to collect some beautiful Autumn leaves and do leaf rubbings because of "health & safety". The leaves may have animal excrement on them, which could transfer to the children's hands and into their mouths, and some children may have an asthmatic reaction to leaf mould. So looking at the "PIGS RISE" mnemonic for control measures we have some alternatives:
P for PPE – the children could collect the leaves and make rubbings wearing protective gloves and respiratory protection.
I for Information – provide the parents with information about the intended activity and ask if any children actually have a problem with leaves
G for Good housekeeping – clear up after the work
S for Safe systems of work – make sure the children know not to put their hands in their mouths, show them how to rub leaves safely, and supervise them accordingly
R for Reduce – reduce the risk by the adults collecting the leaves, washing them in hypoallergenic disinfectant and then allowing the children to make leaf rubbings
I for Isolate – provide the children with isolation glove boxes so they can make leaf rubbings safe from any of the hazards entailed.
S for Substitute – print pictures of leaves from the Internet for the children to use instead.
E for Eliminate – Eliminate the original activity.
The pre-school decided on the last two measures. Not sure that's the choice I'd make…

Active learning

Well if I’d been expecting careful planning of lessons and evidence of active learning then I was to be disappointed. The tutor’s strength is his legal knowledge and his full range of anecdotes of accidents and misdemeanours in industry. He tells the stories in an amusing and picturesque manner, which helps to explain the points he is trying to make. The word-only PowerPoint slides act as a back drop to the sessions, with some hand waving towards them. I am grateful that at least he doesn’t stand in front of them and read them to us. However, what is missing is any form of “active” learning. I mentioned this during a break. His response – “I’ll bring some videos next week.” I attempted to explain that wasn’t what active learning meant. I wondered why it was me, the comparative rookie, who needed to explain to this man who I was told had 40 years of training experience, what active learning was. He didn’t get it. He did bring some videos the following week, but even then missed an opportunity for active learning. The introduction to the video explained that at intervals there would be a question, the screen would go blank, and there would be an opportunity for us to discuss what we’d just seen. He ran the video straight through, without pause or discussion.
If you’re not sure what active learning is either, see www.geoffpetty.com/activelearning.html for an explanation. I wish my tutor would take a look.

Days and weeks

In the previous blog I explained why I rejected e-learning in favour of a classroom based course to study for my NEBOSH National General Certificate. The next choice was block or day-release. The residential block release courses did sound appealing. Hotel life with no domestic responsibilities for five whole days – twice! Then I woke up from that dream. Cost, inconvenience to the family – need I go on?

Day-time block release was an option. But how do people learn best? We remember more if we learn step-by-step, have time to revise, and the opportunity to both analyse and synthesise what we have learnt. That is, to pull apart everything you know, and try and put it together again in a different context, preferably in several different contexts. From what I’ve seen of the NEBOSH exam papers, it’s what the questions do well – expect you to apply what you learn in a variety of different ways, not regurgitate what you’ve read or been told. But as well as careful planning of lessons by a knowledgeable and experienced tutor, this requires time for the student to study what they have learnt. There’s a limit to how much time there is in the evening and, once you hit 25+, to the capacity of the human brain to cram any more than a few hours of study a day in. It is also much less disruptive to other work to take one day a week off for ten weeks, than two whole week blocks. Probably because you fit the extra day’s work into the other four by working 20% harder (or 20% longer).

So I came to the conclusion I’d learn more if I had a week between each day long session to revise, analyse and synthesise, than trying to do five days as a block. Day-release seemed the way to go.

Location, Location, Location

Pass rates, tutor credentials, value for money… No, none of these were criteria in making a decision on which training provider to use for my NEBOSH certificate. I choose a course due to be held 15 minutes drive from home. Unfortunately, having settled on the course, the venue was “upgraded” to a hotel 40 minutes drive away. May not seem much to many of you, but as my daily commute is 15 minutes walking via my children’s school and back to my desk, this put a large hole in my finely balanced child care plans. I explained to the organisers that I’d be happy to bring a pack lunch and sit in the pub garden rather than drive the extra distance for the benefit of better catering facilities and a higher standard of classroom, but in the end had to accept that 40 minutes was still better than the alternatives.

So if location is the issue, why not use an e-learning course? After all, I spend much of my working life in front of a computer, some of it evaluating e-learning. I did look at this route. One company would not let me try out their course before buying. Would you buy a car without test driving it? Yet I was told many customers had been happy to invest a large sum of money without a trial. Two companies were brave enough to let me test their products. Neither engaged the user in anything more active than reading, and occasionally clicking a button to move to the next screen or to answer a multi-choice question. So it’s back to the classroom for me.