eLearning and Learning Management Systems (LMS) were taken to new heights in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as training shifted online across the globe. This shift altered how industries viewed risk and hazard management and posed new challenges for training and compliance.
Competency development is fundamental to process safety, and the recent pandemic amplified the importance of training and development in building and maintaining competency frameworks quickly. It also identified the leap in value for integrating technology to improve existing work practices.
The IChemE Safety Centre (ISC) devised a notable roadmap plan, Process Safety Competency Guidance (2018), to help organizations establish process safety competency and develop a framework to maintain and assess competency. This guidance recommends six practical steps to support the implementation of a framework or model. Formal training with planned learning track programs and competency mapping is key to assessing its competency. A competency framework like the one developed by ISC can be further enhanced when using an LMS.
A competency-based training approach provides learners/employees with an understanding of which skills and knowledge are needed to carry out their jobs, record progression, and offers visible status tracking of a learning path for themselves and management. An LMS is a software application designed as an eLearning ecosystem to handle all aspects from delivery, management, and assessment, to reporting. Moreover, a quality LMS enables individuals and organizations to identify competency knowledge gaps, providing a realistic understanding of how and where to improve future training development.
Competency development is fundamental and key to proper process safety. The recent COVID-19 pandemic amplified the importance of training and development not only in building, but also in maintaining competency frameworks quickly. Historic work habits and routines shifted dramatically, altering how industries viewed risk and hazard management which posed new challenges for training and compliance. It set off a chain reaction for questions like: What is an adequate level of competence to carry out a core job function now that the job status quo has changed? What was now meant by being competent? And when the unprecedented happens, what does it mean to be prepared? The immediate and long-term outlook for professional learning and training was disrupted.
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