In a speech given in Singapore for the 21st World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, Manpower Minister Lim Swee implored countries around the world to invest more effort in reducing the number of workplace deaths and injuries.

Addressing the congress – which included around 3,500 delegates from more than 100 countries – Mr Lim outlined the approach he hoped countries would adopt to reduce fatalities and accidents to below the current average of 1.9 fatalities per 100,000 workers (in the UK this figure was 0.4 per 100,000 in 2016).

Noting that different countries cite different averages for workplace accidents and fatalities, Mr Lim expressed his hope that each would learn from the other and work together to raise the profile of occupational health and safety across the board. He reiterated the importance of instilling a mind-set of safety and accident prevention in employers around the globe, and stressed the importance of offering regular health and safety training to all employees.

In truth, and looking only at absolute numbers, the amount of workplace accidents and fatalities is higher now than it has ever been. However, this is only because the workforce has grown exponentially year on year. To reverse the trend of workplace incidents, then, would mean reducing them at a pace faster than the global workforce is growing – a hefty goal, but one Mr Lim hopes to tackle with education and training over the next decade.

How can eLearning help?

It’s essential to deliver health and safety training in an interesting and easily accessible way. All our eLearning courses include exceptional content, using advanced instructional techniques such as interactive video and gamification to create highly engaging and enjoyable learning experiences.

Here are a few strategies we employ when developing health and safety courses:

Scenario

Scenarios are an effective way to showcase real-life situations. They allow you to introduce risk-based situations and present the learners with an environment related to their job environment. For example, scenarios can be used to train employees how to act in the event of a fire.

Video

Videos make situations seem real and offer learners a clear and relatable window into safety and compliance issues. They are also a useful tool to break up text/voice-over style learning and offer users a different way to learn and retain information.

Gamification

Incorporating elements of computerised-gaming is a great way to engage and motivate learners to take part. Individuals are tasked to collect points, trophies, stars, etc. to ‘complete’ the game by answering questions or reacting correctly to scenarios.

Graphics

It’s well-known that people tend to remember more when they see than when they read; so making use of appropriate images is very important as they help learners to remember and visualise concepts.

For more information about our ‘Health and Safety Essentials’ suite of eLearning courses, feel free to contact one of our friendly team.