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What’s more, companies are required to allow employees to complete training during paid work hours — or compensate them for training completed outside nor- mal work hours. So, supporting training within the flow of work helps employees stay compliant, safe, and productive. Benefit no. 4: Gamification Helps Drive Employee Engagement The fourth benefit of mobile learning is the opportunity to support “gamification,” or training experiences that include game- like elements that can increase employee engagement in workplace safety training. The result: better training completion rates and safer jobsites. Key components of gamification in workplace safety training include: ■ Storytelling: Incorporating story- telling elements into safety training adds a narrative layer to the content, making it more engaging and memorable. Stories can illustrate the importance of safety measures and help learners more easily remember new material. ■ Scenario-based learning: Gamifi- cation often involves immersive simula- tions of real-world situations (think back to our winter weather example above). In safety training, this can allow participants to practice responding to emergencies or thinking through safety procedures in a risk-free environment. ■ Progression tracking: Training can be formatted with different stages or “lev- els,” with each building on the knowledge acquired during completion of the previ- ous stages. Advancement through levels provides a sense of accomplishment and also helps employees visualize their prog- ress. ■ Badges and achievements: Virtual badges or achievements can be awarded for specific accomplishments or mile- stones in the training. These, too, serve as visible symbols of recognition and accom- plishment. By applying gamification elements, workplace safety training becomes more interactive, enjoyable, and impactful for employees. This, in turn, helps increase knowledge retention and a more safety- conscious workplace. Benefit no. 5: Mobile-Powered Data Helps Refine Safety Training Data from mobile training can be used to identify trends and hazards and improve safety programs by implementing new procedures, alerts, or additional training modules on topics employees struggle with. Consider tracking data such as: ■ Performance Analytics, such as completion rates and assessment scores, which can help identify the topics employ- ees need to focus on. ■ User Engagement Metrics, such as time spent on individual lessons, in or- der to help indicate whether employees are engaging with training as expected by their employers. ■ Feedback provided via mobile deliv- ery, which makes it easy to offer immedi- ate information to employees about their answers, helping them understand the consequences of their decisions and sup- porting safer behavior. Then, employers can solicit feedback from their employees to learn the most effective elements of training and, com- bined with the patterns identified in mo- bile training data, take informed action — say, building out additional trainings that reinforce information a percentage of em- ployees struggled with — to ensure jobsite safety. There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Solution for Safer Jobsites As helpful as mobile safety training is, it’s important to remember that many haz- ardous industries, such as steel and recy- cling, restrict on-site mobile device usage. In these cases, employers may still provide mobile resources but will need to commu- nicate clearly with employees about where and when to complete their training. There is no one-size-fits-all solution for a safer jobsite. But training is a critical component — and every step employers take to support employee safety training makes for a better workplace overall. Rachel Hook, GSP, ASHM, is Training and Quality Manager at KPA, a leading provid- er of EHS compliance software and services. REFERENCES 1. tinyurl.com/bdekydy4 2. tinyurl.com/y9jve5a4 3. tinyurl.com/5bayjs9d 4. tinyurl.com/ycy89mxk www.ohsonline.com FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024 | Occupational Health & Safety 29 Say hello to clean and fast safety shower testing. www.greengobblersafety.com