Canadian Occupational Safety

H aving both a son and a brother with a learning disability, Greg Davis is particu- larly acute to the needs of individuals who struggle with reading, writing and math. When she came on board as the program manager, training and development, at OC Transpo in Ottawa, Davis decided the text-heavy training manuals needed an overhaul. "It's so stressful for them and some of the mate- rial was not terrifically accessible or it was just very dense, lots of text," says Davis, who is responsible for training the transit operator's 3,000 employees — 1,700 of which are bus drivers. "We want to make sure everybody who comes into that training has the opportunity and tools and resources they need to be successful." As of 2009, the curriculum was built on the princi- ples of adult education and OC Transpo was focused on ensuring it met all learning styles. The curriculum is now very interactive. "We do hands-on, we do games, role-play, quiz- zes, we have a lot of visuals and that is one way we can help people with learning disabilities, but it's good for everyone too," says Davis. "All of our curriculum is written in clear language and we have lots of illustrations." For OC Transpo, it's critically important that all workers — including those with leaning disabilities — are truly grasping the training material, otherwise safety will be compromised. "We carry 97 million passenger trips per year all over the city… and we want them to understand the material and understand it well. If they don't, obviously, it's a huge impact. If they don't have full knowledge of what they are doing and they don't know the safety procedures to follow, there's huge potential for injury to the self, others and property damages," says Davis. No matter the industry, organization or province, safety managers everywhere need to be aware of learning disabilities within their workforce because they can impact a worker's ability to do her job safely. One in 10 Canadians has a learning disability, according to the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada. More than half-a-million adults in this country live with a learning disability, making it more challenging for them to learn in universities and colleges and on the job, according to the 2006 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey by Statistics Canada. "It's the single largest disability we know in our education system, which becomes our work system… It doesn't stop in Grade 12," says Linda Barbetta, community outreach resources co-ordinator at the Learning Disabilities Association of Ottawa-Carleton. "It is something people carry with them their whole lives and in some aspects of their work, it is going to impact them. It is a fairly significant disability that is probably more prevalent than they even know." As a first step, health and safety managers should take a hard look at their orientation program and find ways it can be adapted to better suit those with learning disabilities. "We are all wired differently. There are different learning styles out there and often a lot of health and safety programs are rather generic by nature and they paint everyone with the same brush and don't take into consideration that we all hear, see, learn and assess risk differently," says Bob Neilson, occu- pational health and safety consultant at Ennis Safety and Security Services in Kentville, N.S. "There is kind of a tendency to have one type of style of orientation that might not be effective for everyone." Having an orientation and training program that caters to those with learning disabilities is important so workers know they are supported from the get-go. "When we go in on day 1, on the first morning we go in and say, 'Welcome to OC Transpo, we wish you every success, we are here to help you and if you ever needed extra help in school, if you have ever had a learning disability, there's lots of things we can do to help you. It's confidential and please let us know,'" says Davis. "And we don't make a big deal about it." From there, all safety orientation and training needs to be designed in a way so that people with learning disabilities will truly retain the information. According to the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada, 80 per cent of learning disabilities are dys- lexia (weakness with the symbols of language), so it's important for training to not rely on the written word. "It's rethinking reading. You can read with your ears, you can write with your mouth. It doesn't always have to be in the traditional way," says Barbetta. Using visual aids is essential. Videos are a great way to train on a plethora of safety infor- mation, often being easier to grasp than written procedures for most employees. Handouts, diagrams and illustra- tions are effective as well. Role-playing is an important part of the training at OC Transpo. For example, trainees act out various real-life scenarios, such as a dealing with an angry customer, and then discuss and debrief their response. "They aren't reading about it, they are experiencing it," says Davis. "Then after they have had that experience, what did you notice? How did you feel? When you said this, what was their reaction versus that? It's guiding them through the expe- riences. Having them talk about it, having them think about it, having them apply it." Games can also be used as an effective tool. For example, a trivia game can be set up where teams compete against each other to identify the correct policy or procedure to follow in a given situation. At the end of orienta- tion and safety training, it's important to feel confident that employees have retained the information. "Just providing training to employees is no longer enough; we need to ensure that training is effective and that With 1 in 10 Canadians having a learning disability, safety training must adapt to all learning styles By Amanda Silliker 22 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com

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