Training – Another R&M Expense

Maximising value from your training dollar is essential and one option is to ensure trainees get the most they possibly can from the trainer, reports SARAH ANDREW, CMPA Project Manager.

THINK of treating training like a consumable or within the Repairs and Maintenance (R&M) part of the budget. If it were a jaw liner you would continually check it for damage or excessive wear, you might change the design over time and you would forward plan its replacement.

Training can be thought of in a similar manner – you keep an eye on where skills can be improved and where errors are occurring, you ask that courses are customised or revisited based on what results it brings onsite, and hopefully you would give any attendee warning that they are attending a course before the morning of the course.

This article will be looking at the forward planning that might be undertaken with regards to training.

GIVING WARNING TO THE TRAINER

Just like the manganese supplier, it is a lot easier for the RTOs business if they have an awareness of the training requirements your site may have in the ensuing months. This allows them to plan courses with your site in mind and may facilitate courses being held with a number of different sites.

To do this, the RTO will need to know what training is required, the number of people (by site) who require the training, and preferred scheduling (for instance, later half of the week, not end/start of month, not June, etc.).

GIVE WARNING TO THE PARTICIPANT

Giving warning to the person delegated to attend training allows them time to give consideration to what is required of them and gets them thinking about questions or information they may require. It might be of assistance for some trainees to have the reference manual before the course – it gives people a chance to have a look at the content and see how it applies to their sites. It also gives those who don’t like reading or writing a chance to go over it in private.

The only challenge here will be making sure they bring the manual to the training!

CONFIRM THE DETAILS THE DAY PRIOR

With training, as with any meeting, it is a good idea to get someone in the office to call the RTO and ensure that everything is still as planned, check if there is anything the trainee needs to supply (like their own lunch) and confirm the location and start time of the training.

It is equally important to ensure that this information is given to the person attending the training. It really is surprising how often the CMPA gets a call from a trainee or RTO asking where they should be for a course starting in the next hour.

Another issue, particularly after the training, is ensuring that participants complete any course work as quickly as possible and return it to the RTO. Without this work being completed and returned to the RTO it is not possible to have completed the unit – this is clearly undesirable.

It would also be a good idea to find out what the participant thought of the course. Feedback (both positive and negative) provided to the RTO or the CMPA if preferred is a good way of improving the course for the future.

If all of these aspects of training are addressed before the course, all involved will gain a lot more in a more efficient manner.

CRUSHING AND SCREENING MANUALS UPDATE

In late July, the Secretariat engaged the skills of Tegan Eldridge (daughter of David Eldridge) to assist in finalising the crushing and screening manuals.

Over the ensuing months, Tegan has reviewed both the ‘Conduct Crushing Operations Reference Manual’ and ‘Conduct Screening Operations Reference Manual’ considering the feedback given in training to date and filling in the remaining gaps. These two manuals are now being given a once-over prior to printing and can be ordered from Briony.

Most recently, Tegan has commenced working on the ‘Combined Crushing and Screening Reference Manual’ which has had a considerable amount of information added to it following from feedback at the training courses.

Over the coming weeks Tegan will be working on the blending manual and the sand plant manual in the coming months followed with the three service and maintain manuals.

Members may be contacted by Tegan for information and your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

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