Throughout my professional activities, I have examined the best approaches to personnel training in the field of occupational health and safety. I paid particular attention to the activity-based approach using modern educational technologies as a foundation for improving the quality of HSE training for managers and specialists. The principles for implementing the activity-based approach in HSE training for managers and specialists are also presented. A significant result of following the principles of the activity-based approach is the formation of a safety culture, which plays a major role in reducing occupational diseases and industrial injuries at enterprises, as well as in establishing an effective HSE management system within an organization.
The foundation for the successful functioning of an HSE management system, and consequently, for reducing occupational diseases and industrial injuries at enterprises, is the presence of highly qualified HSE specialists, which directly depends on the level of competence of the organization's head in this area. According to Russian legislation, all employees, including managers and specialists, are required to undergo training and knowledge testing on occupational safety requirements in the manner established by the Government of the Russian Federation [Art. 225 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation]. However, according to many experts in this field, “there are certain shortcomings related to the quality of presentation and demonstration of lecture materials, the formal process of organizing training, and the lack or weak use of modern teaching methods and technologies. The main reasons for these shortcomings are: the extensive involvement of low-competence specialists with superficial knowledge of HSE who lack teaching experience; and the insufficient provision of modern technical means to support the educational process in training organizations.” Thus, it can be argued that there is a problem with improving the quality of training for managers and specialists, based on developing the necessary competencies: knowledge, skills, and abilities that correspond to professional standards. Solving practical tasks, with the ability to correctly apply the knowledge of the regulatory legal framework and respond promptly to various situations ensuring employee safety, requires not only life experience but also specific skills and abilities that can be acquired through practice-oriented training based on the principles of the activity-based approach and the development of creative and constructive thinking. Since “only through their own activity does a person master science and culture, methods of knowing and transforming the world, and form and improve personal qualities,” it is necessary to organize the learning process so that students independently show activity in the educational process. The activity-based approach, developed in the works of L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, V.V. Davydov, and others, is understood as a way of organizing student activities in which they actively participate in the learning process, “extracting” knowledge (i.e., developing it in the process of solving assigned tasks) independently, rather than simply receiving it from teachers. The concept of learning through activity was proposed in the early 20th century by the American scientist J. Dewey and involved learning and cognition through overcoming difficulties and solving practical problems. The basis of the activity-based approach is not a set of educational technologies, but a certain methodological basis that determines the direction of the students' activity.
To implement effective training based on the activity-based approach, it is necessary to follow certain didactic principles:
Taking these principles into account, solving the assigned tasks becomes an integrative part of the activity. The principles of the activity-based approach can be implemented through the organization of, for example, business games. During these, both specific behavioral traits (the development of a safety culture) and strategic skills important for forecasting in the field of safety are formed. In the theory of such activity, actions of goal-setting, programming, planning, monitoring, and evaluation are highlighted; from the perspective of the activity itself — transformative, executive, and control actions. In the overall structure of activity formation, great attention is paid to self-control and self-assessment actions. The training process for managers and specialists will be aimed at developing a safety culture, as it is oriented toward the formation of the student's consciousness — specifically, that the organization of HSE and production safety is not a set of specific requirements, but a certain life position and an important element of life in general, when knowledge is acquired in the context of a model of future and current activity.