Convergence to Launch New Website Focused on Mill Training

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Convergence Training is launching a new website exclusively for pulp and paper producers! The new site will feature training products focused solely on the pulp and paper industry. This will help our forest product customers get what they need to more easily manage their most important asset, their workforce.

A rough outline of topics that will be included on www.PulpAndPaperTraining.com can be found below:

Orientation Training

  • Contractor Orientation and Training
  • New Hire Orientation

Custom Training

  • Process and Equipment Training
  • Converting Training
  • Pulp and Paper Mill Training
  • Other Site-Specific Training Customized for Your Facility

Mill Safety Training Library

  • 28 OSHA-Based Safety Courses
  • Over 10 Hours of Training
  • Contemporary, Engaging, To-The-Point

Mobile Training

  • Track Classroom Attendance
  • Perform Real-Time Task Training
  • Capture electronic signatures
  • Identify Equipment Using Barcode Scanner

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Convergence Training Welcomes Two New Employees

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We would like to welcome two new designers to the Convergence Training team, Bobby Morin and Dustin Langley.

Bobby and Dustin bring additional horsepower to our creative team by way of their 3d and animation skills and will help us continue to meet our project deadlines and business goals. Dustin is currently working on a building the model for a customer paper machine course and Bobby is helping us with a different site-specific paper machine training project.

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Paying For Our Training is Way Better Than Getting It For FREE!

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Why Pay Convergence When We Can Get Training For Free From MSHA?

Simple. Because MSHA’s free training really isn’t so free. Granted, MSHA training programs can be a cost-effective approach to staying compliant. But many mine operators and mining contractors either don’t have the flexibility necessary to meet MSHA’s training schedules or can’t coordinate the minimum number of attendees for an MSHA training session.

Remember that when you’re trying to save a few bucks with a free training session, you have to take into account all the additional expenses involved, including travel time, fuel, food, and accommodations.

Let’s Look At The Real Cost Of Free Training

Let’s compare the difference between sending five employees (the minimum allowed) to a free MSHA training session, and using our Surface Miner Training DVD Set.

With MSHA’s free training, you’re paying:

MSHA Requires a minimum of 5 attendees. Wages include an average of $20 per hour for 8 hours of annual refresher training and 6 hours of travel time (300 round trip miles). Transportation costs assume 15 mpg at $3 per gallon. Meals are factored in using $25 for each attendee.
MSHA Free Training 5 Workers
Wages During Training $800
Travel Time $600
Food $125
Fuel $60
Mileage $165
$1,750

By the time you’re done getting your employees their annual refresher it is far from free, and that’s for just five employees.

Now Let’s Look At Our Surface Miner Training DVD Set

You just can’t beat the cost-effectiveness of training your team onsite on your schedule. Our Surface Miner Training DVD Set covers all the same required Part 46 content, but with a modern look and training style that your employees will engage with. With these DVDs, you can train at your convenience, and without the scheduling, logistical, and cost headaches.

So, here’s what it will cost you for the same training:

Convergence Training 5 Workers
Wages During Training $800
Travel Time $0
Food $0
Fuel $0
Mileage $0 Surface Miner Training DVD Set $499 $1,299

With Convergence Surface Miner Training, you benefit from:

  • Cost-Effective Training – A one-time cost of $499 for the DVD set (testing tools and certificates included).
  • Scheduling Flexibility – Training done at your convenience.
  • Hassle-Free On-Site Training – No worrying about employees missing the MSHA appointments.

With our Surface Miner Training DVD Set, you can use it as many times as you like. Train your new miners and use it for your annual refreshers as well.

Let’s Compare One Last Time

Using the DVD Set instead of the free MSHA training will actually save you hundreds of dollars the first time you use it – an immediate savings of $451. Over the life of the DVDs you will save even more – after using the DVDs for five years you will be saving more than $4,250, and that’s assuming you only have to train five employees.

However, you decide to train your team, just consider the real cost of free training. Many of our customers already have.

All numbers in this article are estimates. Your actual numbers may vary.

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Jack, Say Hello to John, Your Replacement

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In launching the new driving courses, we decided to make an update to our main character, Jack. We have a brand new model, John, with many upgrades such as:

  • More realistic looking skin

  • Better facial expressions

  • More eye and mouth detail

  • Upgraded jeans and boots

  • Hair (and optional beard) realistically rendered

We are working on setting up the facial morphs, the skeleton and rigging system, as well as the PPE (hard hat, safety glasses, hi-visibility vest, etc) and will begin using John on our next courses.

Without further ado, we would like you to meet John:


See these renders of our old character, Jack:


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Death, Money and Facts for American Surface Mines

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Good News
In 2008, the number of fatalities at U.S. surface mines dropped to a record low of 28. Great!

Bad News
28 American surface miners needlessly lost their lives. Not so great.

More Bad News
For that same year, MSHA slammed surface mines with a record $194 million in penalties. That’s 2.6 times the amount for the previous year.

Death
Last year (2008) was an all time low for surface mine deaths in the U.S. totaling only 28 lives. This statistic shows us that with the proper safety training we can reduce the number of deaths and injuries. At the same time, this also points out the loss of 28 surface miners which could have potentially been avoided with proper training.

Money
As surface mine operators subject to MSHA Part 46 regulations, you should be aware of the heavy fines for safety and health violations. In 2008 MSHA assessed 198,700 penalties for violations, compared to the 130,100 violations in the previous year. The dollar amount for all these penalties in 2008 was $194 million, compared to just $74.5 million in 2007. Penalties of this magnitude indicate that MSHA is being proactive in assessing mine safety and health and that remaining out of compliance poses huge financial risks for those willing to gamble.

Facts
According to MSHA, the root cause of the 28 U.S. surface mine deaths was attributed to:

  • Inadequate training

  • No risk assessment conducted

  • Inadequate policies, procedures, and controls

  • Not using personal protective equipment

  • Lack of pre-operation checks

  • Not maintaining equipment

  • Failure to conduct examinations

Action
Record low deaths of surface miners and record high penalties for violations of safety and health go hand in hand. We see that MSHA has raised awareness in order to save lives by increasing enforcement and handing out $194 million in penalties.

At Convergence Training, we feel very strongly that we can help improve surface mine safety while keeping mine operators compliant with MSHA Part 46 training requirements. Everybody wins when miners get to go home to their families and mine operators lower their costs.

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Will Libraries Be Around in 10 Years? 20? 50?

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I read a really interesting blog post on replacing library books and text books with digital textbooks. The article made some really good points, and I’d like to re-spin them here, of course giving full credit to Thomas Curtis, the original author. Read the full article here.

Here is a summary of what I took away from his article:

Why pay up to $100 for an average textbook that could be missing really important events only a short time after printing?
Electronic versions are cheaper and can be updated with current events such as the Iraq war, the country’s first Afican American president, and the decoding of the human genome to name a few that have occured in the last six years.

When studying a textbook, how often do you read the entire thing versus manually searching for specific pieces of information?
Every wish you could use CTRL+F (the keyboard shorcut for ‘Find’) on a textbook and search for information? 🙂

What hours is your library open, and how many copies can they have of each book?
Digital textbooks could be available 24/7 and available to an unlimited number of people (possibly limited by licensing)

I really liked the ideas in the article and hope more people can think outside the box on the future of textbooks for our students. Similar questions can be asked to paper mills and industrial facilities:

  • How many copies of user manuals or safety books does your site have sitting in a room somewhere?

  • If someone needs access to it, can they get it?

  • Can they quickly find the specific information they need?

  • What if someone else has it checked out or sitting on their desk?

  • How up to date is it?

Has your site done anything outside-of-the-box to help make information accessible? Let us know!

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An Online LMS for Way Less Than a Trip to the Emergency Room

Jeffrey Dalto 1 Comment

Convergence Training is bringing safety training tools to just about any business. Soon, pretty much any company will be able to train, track, report, and get important notifications anywhere at any time for way less than a trip to the ER.

Convergence WebExpress is our new Internet-based training delivery and management system. It’s an online learning management system, or LMS, without the expensive servers or sophisticated software. Keep reading to find out more.

(more…)

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Driver and Vehicle Safety Images Now in Course Catalog

Jeffrey Dalto Leave a comment

The course catalog inside of Convergence Training Viewer has been updated with a preview of our driver safety series courses (Defensive Driving, Seatbelt Safety, and Vehicle Preparedness). While these courses are still under development, we wanted to include them in our catalog to show everyone what is in the works.

Below, check out a screen shot of the catalog page in CTV:

Did you know that Convergence Training Viewer is a free mini-LMS for your desktop?
It can import courses, track results, and even track non-computer training events – and its FREE! Check it out or give us a call today. We would love to get your feedback.

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A DRIVING Force in the Training Industry – Convergence Plans New Driving Courses

Convergence Training 1 Comment

More than 2,300 Americans died in 2007 from occupational transportation accidents. That’s 2 out of every 5 work-related deaths for the year.

In other words, that’s:
– 2,300 times the number of fatal shark attacks worldwide
– 127 times the number of U.S. skydiving deaths
– 51 times the number of fatal U.S. lightning strikes
– Or over 3 times the number of global airline fatalities for that same year

But you don’t need to trudge through the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics or be a safety expert to know that number is way too high. The worst part is that virtually all of those accidents were avoidable.

As a company focused on positively impacting the safety training industry, Convergence Training constantly looking for new opportunities to help our customers reduce accidents and ultimately saving lives.

Everyone knows that safe driving habits can reduce or even avoid tragic human costs, but improving commercial driving safety also makes solid business sense. So, we plan to release our new Commercial Driving Safety series in late-August.

The first course in our Commercial Driving Safety series will be Introduction to Defensive Driving, followed by Seat Belt Safety and Vehicle Preparedness. Introduction to Defensive Driving will cover the fundamental concepts of collision avoidance, economics of safe driving, and vehicle knowledge. And as you’ve come to expect, our material will represent the insights, regulations, and best practices of leading organizations, including the National Safety Council, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and OSHA.

Do you have suggestions for other safety training courses that would make your life easier or safer? We want to hear from you. Call or email us to let us know what you need.

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My Five Favorite E-Learning Resources

Jeffrey Dalto Leave a comment

Just last week, I was asked for a list of the top blogs/learning resources that I follow/frequent. Here is a list of the 5 sites that I have found helpful and full of great information. I subscribe to these via RSS which will deliver updates directly to Outlook and my phone.

Here is my list:

 

 

 

 

 

What are some of your favorite eLearning or training sites? Drop me an email or comment and let me know what I’m missing out on!

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Asbestos Awareness Updated

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In our continuing effort to provide our customers with relevant and accurate training material, we’ve recently updated our Asbestos Awareness DVD and CBT products. If you have purchased a DVD (or our complete EHS DVD Set), we’ve just ordered new copies to be sent free of charge.

If you previously purchased an Asbestos Awareness DVD, please replace it with the newly updated version you’ll receive soon. If you purchased an EHS DVD Set, please use the newly updated DVD in place of the Asbestos Awareness module on Disk 1.

View our full line of training courses

 

Changes to the asbestos course include updates to regulatory information, clarified legislation history, improved graphics and updated 3D renders.

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Convergence Training Visits Southeast

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Convergence Training will be meeting with prospective and current pulp and paper clients in a weeklong trip to the Southeast. We will be traveling through Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama.

If you would like to schedule a meeting with a Convergence representative in your area, visit our Contact Us page and let us know.

We look forward to our trip and meeting with everyone!

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