PowerPoint Potential

Thorough and effective employee training is recognized as a major key to achieving not only compliance with OSHA and other regulations but also the protection of the company’s assets and the workers themselves. Therefore, the managers, supervisors, and safety professionals involved in the training effort should seek to find and use the best tools for the job.

Note that there is no single "best" tool. Indeed, all trainees are sure to benefit from a variety of approaches, so a savvy trainer will utilize several of the many options available. These include lectures, handouts, hands-on exercises, "show and tell," quizzes, overhead projections, PowerPoint presentations, Web-based training, and films or videos.

Each has its advantages and disadvantages in terms of audience appeal. Studies have shown that information delivered orally alone is less likely to be absorbed and retained than material conveyed visually, or via eye and ear together.

Even more successful is learning by doing—for example, handling power tools correctly, trying on articles of personal protective equipment, or participating in an evacuation drill. Thus, a sequence of telling, demonstration, and supervised action tends to reinforce the lesson and promote retention, as does a follow-up of quizzes and/or handouts.

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Using PowerPoint Effectively

PowerPoint training sessions have the visual and aural elements of training built in. And you can easily add a hands-on piece to the training where appropriate. Here’s how to enliven and strengthen your group training sessions using PowerPoint:

• List upfront the most important points that will be covered, and suggest that trainees pay particularly close attention to them as they appear on screen.
• Interrupt the presentation regularly to ask if there are any questions or material not clearly understood.
• Encourage questions at the end of the presentation.
• Following the presentation, distribute a brief prepared quiz covering the points you most want to be remembered. Then discuss the answers, trying to ensure that everyone participates.
• If the presentation covers a step-by-step procedure for carrying out a specific task, ask for volunteers to demonstrate the same procedure. (Have necessary materials and/or equipment on hand.) Discuss why it is so important that the procedure be carried out properly as well as the hazards of incorrect performance.

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Use your knowledge of your specific trainees and work situation to customize these points—and to devise other means of driving home the basic training participants need to learn.

Why It Matters

• Keeping workers safe and on the job is a high priority for every safety professional.
• Training on safety procedures and equipment is a vital part of every safety program.
• PowerPoint presentations have the potential to be a vital part of your safety training and a high priority in your safety program.