How Do You Select the Best Type of Safety Training?

Vijay Chintamaneni

On a job site, safety is important to everyone, so when it’s time for safety training, how do you decide between an online course or a classroom?  When evaluating the courses based on their published description, Online Training and Instructor Led Training (ILT) may look the same, so it is wise to understand the benefits and drawbacks of both before making a final decision. This is especially important for occupational health and safety training.

Online Training has two key benefits:

#1: Convenience:  Through online training, a student can a complete course on their own time, at their own pace.  And, their employer avoids losing productive work time to training.

#2  Self-determined Pace:  Every student learns differently and because of that, online training allows a student to learn and review on their own and match their training schedule to their personal schedule.

The biggest drawback to Online Training is isolation. When a student participates in an online training course, they attend the course alone.  The student has no interaction with anyone except their computer.  So for the benefits of convenience and schedule, the student misses the opportunity of interacting with fellow classmates which is one of the biggest benefits of attending an Instructor Led Training (ILT).

ILT courses, by design, promote the interaction of students and the instructor, providing additional opportunities to learn from another’s experiences. When it comes to effective health and safety training, not only are experiences shared among the group conversationally, but individual and group exercises show the importance of teamwork, good decision-making and preparation. What’s more, the instructor has the opportunity to point out errors and suggest more effective ways to increase occupational safety and compliance. As a result, classrooms tend to be an enriched learning environment which you cannot get from reading and clicking through slides on a PC.   

Online safety training may be very relevant for those required review or refresher courses – especially for seasoned professionals who have logged hours of prior safety training. But for the less experienced, or for the introduction of a new topic, ILT is a better option and well worth the time investment.

So, when it comes to health and safety training, consider what you need to get out of the course. What would be your best investment to get effective and relevant safety training to keep the student and your company in compliance and the workers knowledgeable and out of harm’s way?

No matter what type of training you select, be sure to use a recommended and high quality training resource.  Whether it is Online Training and Instructor Led Training, you want qualified and relevant materials to ensure that all training dollars and time are well spent.