Introducing the Bro-Bowl – Virtual Interactive Tailboard Training Sessions.
Training vs. Education
A worthless argument
Education and training are only different in their nuances. And, arguing that a nuanced anything is also the essential nature of the thing is stupid. They are both LEARNING. Education leans theoretical and cognitive in its nuances. And, training leans vocational or psychomotor in its nuances while also having perhaps more conditioning elements than education does, but not necessarily. Of course this isn’t an either/or thing. Surgeons, for example, owe a great deal to psychomotor skills and central pattern generators as do aviators and musicians. However, we generally think of them as educated. It’s the equipment operators and mechanics that get associated with “Training” and not “Education”. I would argue that being a good mechanic has relatively little to do with psychomotor skills and much more to do with troubleshooting, critical thinking and knowledge…things more closely associated with the cognitive domain. I suppose motorcycle mechanics who put high performance V8 engines in motorcycles do display a sort of “Psycho Motor” skill.
My point is this…it’s all learning. And we get way too wrapped around the axle with defining the limits of the things when we really shouldn’t. Like being on the right, or left, or center in politics. A Classical Liberal, which I’ll argue describes most Republicans and Democrats, is both liberal and conservative. By traditional definitions, they are both right wing and left wing. It could be argued that they are also Moderates and Centrists, but that’s not entirely accurate either. The reality is most dichotomies are false. Most either/or arguments are false…most.
Another popular either/or argument is Leadership vs. Management. Here is the answer…they are nuanced definitions so fucking deal with it. But it’s also well established that “leadership” as a business competency resides in the “Directive Function of Management” so Leadership is part of Management. Except that if we get into some more equivocal jiggery pokery we can argue that many leaders exist outside of management and management only exists for business and…for fuck’s sake.
So Back to the Bro-Bowl
It’s a form of safety training
Tailgate or tailboard training is training that’s conducted periodically with field workers. Often, it’s what could be coined Just-in-Time Training. JITT is training in response to a foreseen event or in response to a recent event. The trigger could be new equipment, compliance training requirements, new hazards, new policies or controls, a new location, new employees, an accident…and the list goes on and on. It’s also done on a regularly scheduled basis, often on Tuesday Mornings, to include training as part of the organizational culture and to meet company or compliance based training requirements.
All those stated reasons are good reasons. However, the reason that has arguably the most impact on an organization and worker safety is…because it makes at least one thing “top of mind”.
Sometimes, as with JITT, that thing can be identified as more important than perhaps other things, such as a new equipment inspection technique due to recent incidents or product recalls. Other times, it simply serves to occupy the mind in the same way the “red car” theory explains. The red car theory says that recalling how many red cars you see in a day is improved by tasking someone in advance to pay attention for red cars. In fancy training and education speak it’s called the Law of Recency. And, recency helps to overcome Primacy (prior learning). And, if you do it consistently, it leverages the Law of Exercise (practice). Now a good trainer would recognize that “training” is nuanced with connotations of conditioning, and would include laws that involve reward/punishment elements such as the Laws of Effect and Intensity. And of course other tools that the study of education, training, psychology and cognitive neuroscience offer us.
Regular Tailboard Training is Effing Awesome and Every Company Should do it.
OSHA Outreach Training
Do you have a trainer on staff?
I’m critical of the OSHA Outreach Training Program because of their program management, and as I believe it constitutes Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by a Federal Agency.
However, I love the OSHA Outreach Training Program. It’s like loving someone but being really critical of them because they let you down.
One of the absolute best aspects of the program is for safety leaders to get recognized for their experience – and after taking a couple of courses – getting “Authorized” to teach 10/30 hour courses. You can build a business with this, or provide the training to your company.
The problem is that OSHA competes directly with these trainers, by sanctioning the online training that leads to the exact same DOL Card, by limiting competition and access to the training market, and further restricting in-person trainers with burdensome rules that don’t apply to the online providers. They have also prevented innovation and quality improvements, ironically in their attempt to improve upon the known poor quality of the online courses.
The Tree Care Industry and Wildfires
30 Minute Training Blocks
Get an OSHA Authorized Trainer on Staff
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It’s a Racket
The Online Oligopoly
So, OSHA has an alternative to in-person training. And, they allow a small group of online providers access to the reported 1.2 million workers served by the training. According to a source close to our founder, OSHA wanted to appear ‘modern”, and offer some online training that would satisfy the 10/30 requirements…so they did. Then COVID hit and it was a godsend. Then employers learned it was super cheap and convenient and easy for their employees to pass. They didn’t have to pull employees from production to train or take time out to train. They could just require it as a condition of employment or buy cheap access for their employees to do on their own time or for a discounted training wage rate. OSHA knew this online training was of poor quality, but they kind of got stuck with it. So, they made an argument that they were considering a switch to a “consortium model” and halted all new training applications. Except, this happened in October of 2019 and they created an oligopoly of grandfathered providers in the process…and have not made any progress towards their “consortium model” for over 5 years. They created a racket that is clearly in violation of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. And, I’ll argue this consortium model is just a continuation of the current racket. To add insult to injury, OSHA has responded to criticism of their program by threatening to revoke trainer authorization for Authorized Trainers who complained. Waste, Fraud and Abuse like this in plain language needs to be dealt with harshly. And, we at goat-pen.com, The Goat Propulsion Laboratory and bluecollarbros.org have a solution.
Bust the OSHA Oligopoly
An Executive Order Prohibiting OSHA 10/30 Requirements Without Accepting an Alternative
Our solution is pretty simple , and it’s for President Trump to issue an Executive Order prohibiting any organization or State OSHA from requiring OSHA 10/30 hour training without accepting an alternative. If certain States and Contract Authorities could not require OSHA 10/30 exclusively, then the OSHA 10/30 DOL card loses a lot of its power. It may still carry a certain cachet or legitimacy, but it wouldn’t be the only solution to a company that desires to compete for Public Works contracts or satisfy State OSHA training requirements. Ultimately, OSHA needs to overhaul the Outreach Training Program so that offering training in accordance with the program is not bundled with bullshit. Â
Enter the Bro-Bowl
Virtual Interactive Tailgate Training Sessions
30 minute game/exercise/activity
15 minute debrief
Self-paced online resources
Quizzes and Exams
Training Documentation/Certs
24/7 Access to Discussion CommunitiesÂ
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If the current online training results in a DOL Card with Zero Instructor Contact Hours, then why can’t it be earned with a hybrid of online, in-person and virtual?
If the current online training results in a DOL Card with a student to instructor ratio of 1.2 million to zero, then why can’t this hybrid training have more students than a 20 to 1 student to instructor ratio and a 40 student cap? Why not 1.2 million?
There is absolutely no reason that training can’t be delivered in this manner that is fun, engaging, effective, “sticky” and far superior to the crap that OSHA currently sanctions from their oligopoly.Â
