Training Effectiveness Analysis of Osha Silica and Excavation Standards for Construction

Abstract

As construction safety and health standards evolve due to changing industry practices and stakeholder expectations, and the mandates get stronger on compliance with these standards, the need for training programs become more pronounced. This paper covers the training material development and program delivery and evaluation efforts associated with two standards promulgated by the US Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), namely Respirable Crystalline Silica (29 CFR 1926(29 CFR .1153 and Excavation and Trenching Safety (29 CFR 1926 Subpart P). The work reported here was undertaken through OSHA's Susan Harwood program. The developed training materials consisted of PowerPoint instructional modules; pre-tests and post-tests to measure incremental knowledge improvement; and trainee opinion surveys to evaluate the efficacy of the training materials and training delivery systems incorporated in the programs. Trainees included employees and employers representing various trades (operating engineers, laborers, masons, bricklayers, pipelayers and others). The delivery was performed by a traditional classroom format for the silica training, while lecture-based traditional and online training were separately offered for excavation safety. Kirkpatrick's model for learning assessment was adopted, employing level 1 and level 2 evaluations. It was found that both the lecture-based traditional and online training delivery were effective tools, although they have their advantages and disadvantages. Based on a limited study using cross-tabulation, no statistically significant correlation could be identified between levels 1 and 2 assessment results.

The Kirkpatrick model for training evaluation: bibliometric analysis after 60 years (1959–2020)

“…As Lewis et al (2013, p. 49) assert, "[a]s scholars increasingly take up such data sets, they may be better served by interweaving computational and manual approaches throughout the overall process to maximize the precision of algorithms and the context-sensitive evaluations of human coders." It was noted that the studies related to education were all conducted during the past decade: Smidt et al (2009), Chang and Chou (2015), Yahya et al (2017), Kazan et al (2019), Liao (2019), Lin and Bazaluk (2020) and Suharto et al (2020). Moreover, Suharto et al (2020) study linked the Kirkpatrick model with school education to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based disaster risk reduction program in a junior high school in Indonesia.…”