The Role of the Educational and Methodological Component in Safety Training

From Theory to Practice: Why Training Methodology Comes to the Forefront

Developing practical skills in HSE requires a fundamentally new approach to training. Traditional lectures and standard training center programs often fail to yield the desired results, as their focus is shifted to content rather than the format of its delivery. Mikhail Omelchuk, curator of technical HSE training programs at Sibur, explains why a high-quality educational and methodological component is becoming a key factor in the effectiveness of corporate training.

Creating an in-house technical training center, such as SiburIntech, allows the company not only to transmit knowledge but also to build sustainable practical skills. The speaker emphasizes that having modern equipment is only part of the success. Without a well-thought-out methodology, even the most advanced simulators will not ensure the necessary level of material assimilation and its subsequent application in the workplace.

Principles of Building an Effective Training Program

The presentation details an approach to developing training programs based on Kolb's cycle. Each program should start with problematization and actualization of the topic for the specific employee. Only after the learner realizes the importance of the material for their daily work should the transition to theory and practical exercises occur.

• Focus on practice: The majority of training time should be devoted to practicing specific actions rather than listening to lectures. This ensures the formation of real skills applicable in production.
• Gradual complexity: Tasks should become more complex step by step, from simple schemes to working in conditions simulating emergency situations (for example, using smoke machines when practicing gas-hazardous work).
• Objective assessment: Using checklists allows standardizing the process of assessing practical skills. It is important that these checklists are applicable in the real workplace, helping employees monitor the correct execution of operations.

The Role of Internal Experts and Training Standardization

The speaker pays special attention to the role of internal trainers — current company employees (foremen, site managers, mechanics) who share their practical experience. Using "playing coaches" requires creating the most detailed educational and methodological materials to guarantee identical training results regardless of who exactly conducts the session.

This approach turns the program into a kind of "karaoke," where each trainer follows a single standard, which stabilizes the quality of training and allows predicting its results. The financial motivation of internal experts, tied to their base salary, stimulates them to prepare and conduct sessions with high quality.

The Training Triad: Pre-training, Training, Post-training

Training should not be limited to a single event. Mikhail shows by example how implementing pre-training (short webinars to build conscious motivation) and post-training support (discussing the results of skill application a few months later) increases the overall effectiveness of the process. This helps knowledge "take root" in the workplace and reduces the risk of returning to old, unsafe work methods.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to build a practical HSE training system from scratch?
• Why is the methodology of material delivery more important than the content itself?
• How to use internal experts as trainers and how to motivate them?
• What tools help objectively assess employees' practical skills?
• How to ensure the retention of acquired knowledge in the real workplace?