Monday, August 23, 2021

Remind Me Again . . .

On the job site, you may not use all of your safety training specific to your job on a regular basis. What can you do to remember the lessons that you’ve been trained on when you don’t get to practice them all the time?

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By Michael Schroeder Hubert, CLAC Training Manitoba Manager

I’m a trainer. I train people to do things that they might not have done before but want (or are required) to know how to do.

I’m also a learner, or at least I try. I recently saw something that made me think about how well I have learned some lessons, and what I need to do to ensure I remember how to do the things that I’ve been trained for.

Whether it’s playing guitar, shooting three-pointers, putting nails into wood, tying stitches, or solving quadratic equations, learning is only the start. Do you want to remember how to do it? Practice. Do you want to get good at it? Practice some more—a lot more.

This is easy when what you’ve learned is practiced regularly. At work, a new skill that was difficult at first can quickly become second nature if you do it all the time. At home, if you spend 30 minutes per night going over guitar chords, you soon won’t need to think about where to put your fingers on the fretboard.

But some things you don’t get to practice very often. Most of us won’t need to use first aid or CPR training regularly. And this is a good thing. Having to use CPR means that you are in a crisis. But when someone has a heart attack, you want to know what to do. Can you remember how to assess the situation and respond appropriately?

On the job site, you may not use all of your safety training specific to your job on a regular basis, whether you work in construction or a nursing home, drive a big rig, or work at the deli counter. What can you do to remember the lessons that you’ve been trained on when you don’t get to practice them all the time?

4 Ways to Be Sure You’re Ready to Use Your Training

Go back to the source. Those training manuals have lots of information in them for a reason. Keep them and reread them to refresh your memory.
Talk about it. Confirm what you remember and find out what you’ve forgotten by talking with others who have taken the same training. Go back to the source when you can’t remember or are unsure about the details.
Role play. A great way to learn or relearn is to go over situations and analyze them to see what you’ve missed. Its sort of like practicing.
Repetition. Do you remember the ABCs of responding to an unresponsive person in medical distress? Repetition can help you remember.

Recently, I passed someone in a mental health emergency. People were already helping the individual, so I didn’t stop. But I’ve taken mental health first aid, and I don’t get to use it often. As I drove by, I ran through in my head how I could’ve helped. It might be me who is first on the scene next time.

I think I’ll go over the manual and talk about it with some colleagues, too. You can’t be too prepared—someone’s life may depend on it.

Remind Me Again . . .

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