What Do You Look For in a Training Provider

7/27/2019 What Do You Look For in a Training Provider

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What Do You Look for in a Training Provider?By Shawn Truesdell and Herdian MohammadPublished June 2011 Indonesian Petroleum & Gas Directory, page 7.

When planning on engaging in safety training for the Oil & Gas industry, whatfactors do you consider? Is it Location, Facilities, Quality, Experience, Price,

Accreditation, or Safety? On their own, each of these factors has great merit, but

when it comes to training they are, in fact, closely linked together. If we examine

them in turn we will find that it is hard to have one without the other, especially

those related in the Oil & Gas industry where safety is a very important aspect.

Safety should always be of paramount concern when selecting training, it may be

clich but you must always ensure there is the highest possible level of safety

when participating in training. Depending on the type of training you are

engaging in there will always be some level of risk, after all, you are being trained

to work in hazardous environments and survive dangerous situations. Whileparticipating in training these dangers are much less than they may be in a real

situation, and can be mitigated, but they do exist.

The minimization and control of dangerous situations during training goes hand

in hand with quality which covers many aspects of training, not only the quality

of the courseware itself, but also that of the equipment, facilities and staff

involved. The equipment should be well maintained and regularly serviced and

documentation of this maintenance needs to be kept. All facilities used should be

purpose built, correctly constructed and do the job it was designed to do while

providing both safety and an atmosphere that is conductive to learning. All staff

involved in delivering the training should have the appropriate levels of

experience and all instructors should be certified. All staff, not just instructors,

should be encouraged to not only maintain their skills, but to update and

improve them through staff development plans so that they can offer the latest

and most up to date training to their students.

It is also vitally important that a training provider have a readily available and

up-to-date quality management system and emergency response plan. The

quality management system should ensure that there is a robust and highly

detailed set of documented procedures that link together all aspects of training

and management. These should include: formally documented procedures toensure the safety of all training exercises, all required processes and checklists

for trainee assessment, administrative requirements, record keeping, HSE plans,

maintenance plans & records, emergency response plans, employee training

matrix, organization charts, work instructions, drills, etc. All aspects of the

quality management system must work together to support the entire operation

of the organization.

The emergency response plan, as a very important part of the quality

management system, should contain solid, well documented and practiced

procedures that training staff must undertake during emergencies such as

natural disasters, accidents and incidents to help prevent further problems while

maintaining a controlled environment. Every training provider must be in a


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position to take full responsibility for both its staff and the trainees and must

have a comprehensive emergency response plan in place to accomplish this.

How can one be sure a training provider has the appropriate quality

management system and emergency response plans in place? Through

comprehensive auditing.

Quality training providers are regularly audited by their customers to ensure

that they meet both the client's own internal, and internationally accepted, safety

standards, that all training equipment is safe and well maintained and that the

staff conducting the training are competent. This auditing however can, and

often does, become burdensome for both the training provider and client, and

this is where accreditation helps. International organizations such as OPITO

certify and approve centers whose facilities, equipment, staff and courses meet

its rigorous requirements. Certification from OPITO must be maintained through

strict adherence to the OPITO guidelines, constant development of staff,

maintenance of equipment and facilities and the successful passing of annual

OPITO audit. Knowing that a training provider is OPITO approved takes a huge

weight off the shoulders of training participants and their employers as they can

be assured that the training provider is regularly audited by, and operating

within, an international organization whose standards are set by the oil & gas

industry.

To maintain all of this; safety, quality courseware, qualified instructors, well

maintained equipment and facilities and international accreditation, is not a

cheap endeavor and therefore must be priced accordingly. If the price is

insufficient to maintain these elements then one or more of them will degrade orbe done away with all together thus risking the quality, safety and recognition of

the training.

Many low quality, low cost training providers claim to provide training which is

"In accordance with OPITO standards". This is NOT OPITO approved, and there is

no guarantee that they are qualified to provide such training as no audits have

been conducted by OPITO or any other certification body. This is the same as

stating that, "Our quality management system is in accordance to ISO 9001 but

not ISO approved." Without approval the only way to ensure that this statement

is true is to be familiar with the standards and to conduct a thorough audit

yourself. In the end the statement is nothing but smoke and mirrors, a marketing

ploy used to try to trick those unfamiliar with safety training and international

standards into accepting sub standard training.

Most of these training providers do not have their own training facilities or

equipment, often relying on rented public facilities to conduct their training,

which is in direct violation of OPITO standards. Without a fixed training center, a

HUET simulator, TEMPSC, in-house instructors, assistant instructors, divers,

paramedics, maintenance team, QA & HSE team, quality control system and

emergency response procedures these companies are in no way acting in

accordance with OPITO standards and are, in fact, in violation of them.


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Safety training should not only be about meeting requirements or regulations, or

about filling the need of a training matrix, but should be more about improving

the skills, attitude towards safety and chances of survival of those being trained.

By the end of any training, participants must have learned valuable skills and be

able to apply those skills, not only in cases of an emergency, but in their day to

day working and personal lives.

In Conclusion, when you are planning on engaging in safety training for the Oil &

Gas industry, it is highly recommended to factor all the elements such as

Location, Facilities, Quality, Experience, Price, Accreditation and Safety in to your

decision. Remember that, often, lower price means higher risk and lower safety,

no international accreditation, lack of appropriate equipment and instructors

who often have less knowledge and experience than those being instructed.

Always be sure to ask for international approval or conduct a thorough safety

audit before you engage in any training.

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OPITO is a non-profit organization owned by the Oil & Gas operators of the world

to assure the highest quality standardization for Oil & Gas safety training

approved worldwide. They freely offer copies of their standards and these can be

downloaded for directly from the OPITO website. For further information on

OPITO please visit www.opito.com/international.

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What Do You Look For in a Training Provider