What Is an MSHA Part 46 Training Program?

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If you’re just becoming aware of the MSHA Part 46 training requirements for surface mines (and people who work at surface mines) in the US, there are a number of new terms to become familiar with. One of those is training program or, more specifically, the MSHA Part 46 training program.

In this article, we’ll tell you what a training program is, explain the different training programs that MSHA’s Part 46 requires, and tell you how they fit together into a MSHA Part 46 training plan.

So now, let’s begin learning what a training plan is.

And don’t forget to download the free guide to MSHA training requirements for Parts 46 and 48 and online training tools from the bottom of this article before you go. 

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Upcoming Free Webinar: Effective Safety Training Tips

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A quick head’s up that we’ll be presenting the second in a series of webinars at the website of our partners RedVector.

You may know that the previous webinar in the series was on New Safety, including Safety Differently, Safety II, and HOP. You can listen to a recording of that New Safety webinar here.

And since this second webinar on Effective Safety Training has already been conducted, know you can listen to a recording of it here.

And since the webinar is on effective safety training, feel free to prime the pump by downloading our free guide to effective safety training, below. 

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Effective EHS Training: A Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to design, create, deliver, and evaluate effective EHS training by following these best practices with our free step-by-step guide.

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ASSP/ANSI Z490.2 Standard for Online EHS Training Passes Vote by Z490 Committee

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As some of you may know, Jeff Dalto of Convergence Training|Vector Solutions has been one of the people helping to create the upcoming ANSI/ASSP standard Z490.2, Accepted Practices for E-Learning in Safety, Health and Environmental Training.

From time-to-time, we update you on the progress of the standard and they recently hit a significant milestone: the members of the Z490 committee voted to approve the draft standard.

What’s next, you ask?

There’s a public review comment period that closes on August 12, 2019. And then after that, the necessary paperwork will be sent to our friends at ANSI for their approval.

So it looks like we’ll have a new national standard for online EHS training soon. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you’re not familiar with Z490.1, the standard for ALL environmental, health, and safety training, now’s a good time to learn more about that.

We’ll return with another update of the upcoming national standard soon; until then, feel free to download the free Online Safety Training Buyer’s Guide Checklist, below.

Online Safety Training Buyer's Guide Checklist

Online Safety Training Buyer’s Guide Checklist

Learn how to evaluate different online safety training solutions to find one that best fits your company’s needs with our FREE informative guide and checklist.

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Online Safety Training Buyer's Guide Checklist

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Vector Solutions Acquires IndustrySafe

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TAMPA, FL and PHILADELPHIA, PA – July 22, 2019 – Vector Solutions, the leader in industry-focused eLearning and performance support solutions, has acquired IndustrySafe, a leading safety management software provider that helps organizations efficiently record, track and trend safety data to improve workplace safety, ensure regulatory compliance, reduce risks, and save time and costs.

The addition of IndustrySafe represents Vector’s third acquisition of the year, following the earlier integrations of CrewSense and Halligan, and furthers Vector’s strategy to expand its leading eLearning and training platform into a complete workforce and organization performance optimization solution.

Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Philadelphia, IndustrySafe serves over 450 global customers with heavy regulations and strict codes for workplace safety across manufacturing, pulp & paper, food & beverage, construction & engineering, transportation, energy, and public sector end-markets.

The company’s highly configurable environmental, health and safety (EHS) management software suite will be offered under Vector’s Commercial business unit, and includes modules such as Incident Management, Safety Metrics Dashboards, Hazard Management, Mobile EHS Inspections, and more.

“This exciting acquisition adds highly sought-after EHS capabilities into the Vector Solutions product portfolio, combining with Vector’s leading learning and workforce management solutions to provide clients with even more tools to ensure regulatory compliance and improve safety,” said Vector Solutions COO Marc Scheipe. “And with IndustrySafe’s continued commitment to user-friendly and cost effective EHS software, this acquisition serves to expand access to advanced technology and maintain a singular focus on optimizing performance, reducing risk and driving smart decisions.”

“We are thrilled to join forces with Vector Solutions and provide our clients with access to even more dynamic solutions, technology capabilities and innovation,” said Clare Epstein, General Manager of IndustrySafe. “These opportunities, combined with additional world-class customer service support from Vector, will allow us to more rapidly execute on our product development, providing an overall greater user experience for our customers.”

Clients of both Vector Solutions and IndustrySafe can expect to receive the same level of outstanding products, innovation and customer service to which they have been accustomed.

The company is working to determine integration plans and more information will be available in the future.

About Vector Solutions

Vector Solutions, a leader in eLearning and performance support, provides award-winning SaaS solutions for the architecture, engineering, construction (AEC), industrial, facilities management, public safety, IT and education industries. Its brands, RedVector-Convergence Training, TargetSolutions, and SafeSchools, deliver continuing education (CE), training, technology and performance management solutions using the latest innovations in learning and technology to create safer, more capable, more compliant organizations. Its extensive online and mobile learning library offers over 9,000 courses written by over 280 subject matter experts and reaches more than 10 million professionals worldwide. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.

About IndustrySafe

IndustrySafe is a leading safety management software provider with over twenty years of experience in delivering safety solutions to our clients. Our product, IndustrySafe, is a web-based safety software that allows you to efficiently record, track and trend safety data. Launched in 2004, IndustrySafe has since helped numerous organizations to maintain regulatory compliance and develop safety management strategies that positively impact the bottom line. Our clients are global leaders in manufacturing, construction and engineering, transportation, energy, and government.

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Industrial Hygiene (IH) Basics: STELs and Ceilings

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In recent IH Basics articles, we discussed permissible exposure limits (PELs) and action levels (ALs).

In this article, we’re going to continue our discussion of exposure limits within the industrial hygiene world by explaining short-term exposure limits (STELs) and ceiling (C) limits.

For more articles like this one on IH topics, check the links at the bottom of this article.

And read on to learn more about STELs and ceilings.

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Learning Myths

Jeffrey Dalto 6 Comments
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You’re probably familiar with the concept of an urban myth. And perhaps you’re familiar with the Mythbusters TV show, which often takes a look at urban myths and other things people believe might be true and puts them to the credibility test. (Before you go on, feel free to check out this fun list of the “Top Ten Urban Legends” if you’re so inclined.)

In the same way, you’d probably be willing to agree that many professions and fields of study have their own version of urban myths that people new to the field–or even those who have studied, practiced, and worked in the field for a long time–believe even though there’s no evidence to back the idea up or in fact there’s evidence that disproves it. (For example, we’re going back a bit here, but you may be familiar with the idea that the body has four different “humors” that govern our health and behavior).

Well, the sad fact is that the training/learning and development worlds aren’t immune to these kind of urban myths embedded into their own professional beliefs and practices, either. In fact, many people have mistaken ideas about what training methods are truly effective and which ones are just–well, bunk or even marketing hype.

In this article, we’re going to debunk a few of the most common learning myths for you, as well as point you toward some resources where you can learn more. In a future article, we’ll write about some solid, evidence-based training methods that DO improve learning. So watch out for that companion piece to this article. And you may also want to quickly review how people learn, since the way we learn is a big reason why some training methods help us learn and some training methods don’t.

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Risk Management Basics: What Is Risk Treatment?

Jeffrey Dalto 1 Comment
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In this installment of our Risk Management Basics series, we’re going to learn about risk treatment.

If you’ve been reading our Risk Management Basics series, you know we addressed the Three Stages of Risk Assessment in a recent article. Risk Treatment is often the next step in the risk management process after risk assessment.

We’ll be writing more in this Risk Management Basics series, so if you’re liking it stay tuned. Plus, feel free to use the comments section at the bottom to ask risk-related questions or to suggest risk-related article topics for the series.

And finally, even though an organization can and should use risk management for all of its objectives, we want you to know we’ve got a free downloadable guide to using Risk Management for Occupational Safety and Health Management at the bottom of this article for you. 

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Risk Management Basics: What Is Risk?

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In this installment of our Risk Management Basics series, we’re going to get very, very basic. In specific, we’re going to ask what does “risk” mean in risk management. How that’s for a basic Risk Management Basics topic?

And before we get going explaining what risk means in the context of risk management, we’d like to invite you to use the comments section to suggest topics for future risk management basics series articles. Just let us know what risky topic you’d like to learn more about…

And if you’re involved in occupational safety and health, feel free to download the free Guide to Using Risk Management for Occupational Safety and Health at the bottom of this article (but note, this article addresses risk management and risk assessment in a general manner and can be applied to any aspect of enterprise risk management).

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Vector Solutions Monthly Blog Round Up: June, 2019

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Our parent company Vector Solutions has been publishing a monthly blog article that compiles one interesting blog article from different Vector Solutions  brands, including your friends here at Convergence Training.

This month’s round-up focuses on safety, because June is National Safety Month, and it includes:

If we’ve sparked your interest, check out the June, 2019 Vector Solutions Blog Round-Up.

And here’s the back-library of Vector Solutions Blog Round-Up articles:

Because the theme of this one is safety, we figured we’d include a free guide to risk-based safety management for you immediately below. Feel free to download it and check out website for more free downloadable guides.

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Free Download–Guide to Risk-Based Safety Management

Download this free guide to using risk management for your occupational safety and health management program.

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Freak Out and Innovate: Problem-Solving Tips from Freakonomics

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If you know anything about the current business environment, you know it’s changing, it’s unpredictable, and businesses are at risk from various forces, including globalism, increased competition, and the threat of disruption.

And that’s why it’s important for businesses to make an investment in learning and performance improvement. And why we write about the importance of being a learning organization (see our interview with Arun Pradhan on Learning Agility & Learning to Learn and with Michelle Ockers on Becoming a Learning Organization).

One of the benefits of learning agility, learning to learn, and being a learning organization is that you’ll increase the creativity and innovativeness of your employees and, as a result, of your company as a whole. And this increase in creativity and the ability to innovate will protect your company from the risks of changed, increased competition, and disruption.

But of course, there’s more to do to help your employees become more innovative. Our article about employee motivation based on Daniel Pink’s book Drive noted one thing you can do is create conditions that make for motivated employees, since motivated employees are more likely to create innovations.

And, the business world already has a lot of great tips for problem-solving and innovation in the form of continuous improvement methodologies, so feel free to check out our Continuous Improvement at Work article as well.

In this article, we’re going to consult some more experts to find what else you can do to foster creativity and create innovations at your workplace. And who better than the crew at Freakonomics with their book Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain?

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Psychological Safety & Learning Organizations

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Psychological Safety and Learning

Why would you want your workplace to be a learning organization? Because learning is the key to your future success, and being a learning organization gives your company a better chance at continued or new success.

(Side note here: Check out our What Is a Learning Organization? article and Becoming a Learning Organization recorded webinar with Michelle Ockers to learn more about learning organizations). 

Amy Edmonson is one of the acknowledged gurus of learning organization theory, and in fact she contributed to the very well-known Harvard Business Review article Is Yours a Learning Organization? More recently,  she’s focused in on one key aspect of learning organizations. In fact, you could call it a bit of a pre-requisite. And that’s what Edmonson and others call psychological safety.

It’s Edmonson’s claim, and a claim she backs up well with data in her book The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, that you can’t truly have a learning organization unless you’ve first got psychological safety.

We’ll give you an introduction to psychological safety and Edmonson’s thoughts on it, including how psychological safety contributes to learning, growth, and even innovation at an organization, in this article.

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Vector Solutions Monthly Blog Round Up: May, 2019

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Last month, our parent company Vector Solutions began publishing a monthly blog article that compiled one interesting blog article from different Vector Solutions  brands, including your friends here at Convergence Training.

This month’s round-up includes:

If we’ve sparked your interest, check out the May, 2019 Vector Solutions Blog Round-Up.

And here’s the back-library of Vector Solutions Blog Round-Up articles:

Before you go, consider downloading the free manufacturing training guide we’ve cooked up for you, below. 

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Manufacturing Training from Scratch: A Guide

Create a more effective manufacturing training program by following these best practices with our free step-by-step guide.

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