Health and safety training company KBC Health & Safety encourages mining companies to engage in continuous learning and the extension of knowledge to decrease the number of incidents and fatalities on site.
KBC Health & Safety strategy and business growth lead director Jared Kangisser says that KBC is ensuring that employees have access to standard operating procedures and other critical information at the point of usage. These new innovative learning processes and methodologies have helped employees to access “just in time” learning information.
“To sustain learning, KBC has researched different methodologies for the retention of learning as well as implementing continuous learning principles. These principles, such as micro-learning modules, are linked to Quick Read (QR) technology, email links and safety campaigns to ensure that whatever they’ve learnt in the classrooms is reinforced when they are on site.” say KBC operations head Sian Thurtell.
Micro-learning has internationally been shown to deliver superior learning outcomes.
The company also provides companies with multiple solutions pertaining to hazard identification, behaviour-based training as well as a full range of legal compliance training. KBC has focused on developing innovative hazard identification training as their research indicates this to be a major gap in the mining industry, resulting in poor safety outcomes.
KBC works with mining companies on high-risk areas, with companies having identified key areas on site which they consider hazardous, including where fatalities are occurring.
KBC facilitators conduct regular site visits to understand the risks in various regions. Those risks are then relayed to the classrooms through videos that the client may provide for KBC to play or pictures taken on site. These aids allow for identifying hazards and mitigating risks on site and understanding the controls that have been put in place for mining houses.
Kangisser says it is vital for mines to look at what the requirements are in terms of safety so that employees can be best positioned to return to their families and loved ones unharmed.
KBC builds on the mining houses’ safety cultures by entrenching their values and safety principles in a learning environment. The culture of zero harm in the mining industry is what companies strive to achieve and KBC assists them in implementing that goal.
“We believe that we do that through setting a standard for safety awareness. We are in an industry where we can mitigate risks for clients in specific areas and we believe that our solutions really ensure safety risk reduction through learning – we absolutely believe that zero harm is possible.” Kangisser explains.
Thurtell further explains that, to ensure individuals attending the training fully understand what they will be doing on site, KBC employs multilingual facilitators to conduct the lessons in the languages that are predominantly spoken in a particular area.