Sky leads the way with award winning e-learning for health and safety

Health and safety is often regarded as a dry, somewhat irrelevant, topic of training for many employees. Policies, processes and general safety awareness have to be conveyed. But at the same time, if a course is not personalised and humanised, learners will not be able to relate to the subject, nor put into practice what they have learned.

So when Sky, the leading provider of digital television services in the UK and Ireland, decided to implement a two-year improvement programme for corporate health and safety, they knew that they had to develop something engaging and interactive to reach the heart of all of their employees.

Without consistent health and safety induction training for employees, Sky was compromising both health and safety standards and corporate culture. In order to resolve this issue, Sky turned to Brightwave, the workplace learning specialist.

"Health and safety is an integral part of the values that we subscribe to as an organisation. We chose to use e-learning because it helps us to reach new employees straight away; they can complete the course in their own time, even before they arrive here on their first day with Sky," says Dominic Wigley, Health and Safety Manager for Sky.

Background

The main focus of the new health and safety programme was to bring the safety culture of the company up-to-date. The programme did not replace a previous complete health and safety course so Sky had to ensure it took the message to all of their 13,000 employees in the best way possible.

The choice to use e-learning was also something that Sky decided after looking at their target audience. "We have a younger age band of employees who are more likely to use e-learning. They are technology-savvy and can intuitively navigate themselves through e-learning programmes," says Dominic. "Courses also have to be highly interactive. That's one of the benefits of e-learning."

Modular and tracked

To help make the content palatable for such a wide audience Brightwave recommended a modular approach with an assessment section at the end. The course can be completed in one sitting or broken down in bite-size chunks.

The nine modules, which take just under one hour to complete, cover a variety of health and safety topics such as how to spot danger, how to handle cuts and accidents, how to take care of your health, office workstation safety, how to use tools and equipment and how to deal with contractor health and safety. Each module features a video introduction and uses audio to guide the user throughout the programme. After completing the modules the employee must complete and pass a final assessment of multiple choice questions covering the topics they have just gone through.

The pass rate was set at 60% ensuring that the learner gains adequate knowledge from the course. A score lower than this, highlights to the learner which modules they need to go back through in order to complete the assessment. All employees have to pass the assessment so if required they must re-sit the course. Only upon answering the questions sufficiently will they be issued with a completion code confirming they achieved the required score.

The assessment was highlighted as an important tool for Sky in their improvement programme. Dominic explains: "Assessments are important as they demonstrate that an individual has completed the element of basic learning. There is no point going through training that won't benefit the individual."

The course also requires the user to log in so that progress can be tracked and assessment results recorded and submitted to the HR department. The results are then uploaded to the company's Learning Management System (LMS).

The course is delivered on a CD-ROM as part of the induction package a new employee is given as they join the company. It has also been rolled out to all existing employees as part of the company's strategy to maintain high health and safety standards.

On brand

Designed to be engaging, interactive and enjoyable, the training programme reflects the Sky brand and values and has been featured as a best practice example of how to use internal brand guidelines.

Branding is one of the benefits of using bespoke e-learning solutions. It enables the course to be customised to represent the company through use of their logos, fonts, and colours, as well giving the learner the feel that the course has a clear corporate message ensuring they are able to relate the materials learnt to their own surroundings.

This also increases motivation and engagement ensuring greater knowledge retention, which was an important factor for Sky. "A media company can't produce a substandard media product," says Dominic. "We took the values of Sky and put them into an e-learning course."

Reviewing results

During the development process the course went through some rigorous reviewing to check that the content was on track. Following the establishment of testing groups, the review lasted 3 weeks. 45 people from a cross spread of managers and staff were anonymously surveyed. When asked, how they would rate the course overall as a percentage, the average response was 87%. 65% of the total respondents suggested the overall course rating was between 90-100%.

"Feedback was amazing," says Dominic. "People really enjoyed it, which is fantastic given that it's a health and safety course."

Reviewers were especially attracted by its relevance to Sky. On the subject of design and presentation some comments read: "Very good, easy and informative style. Very on-brand. Use of VT and presenters encourages the learning process." Similar positive feedback was also received for content: "Covers all the necessary areas, clearly defined objectives were established and achieved. Effective learning tool and good promotion".

These comments highlight that the course developed by Brightwave for Sky could not have been achieved with an off-the-shelf package. A generic health and safety package would not have reflected the Sky culture, the working environment or the needs of their employees.

Bespoke solutions offer the chance to directly focus on the learner. An effective solution should be specific to engage the learner with content that is directly relevant to them. In Sky's case, this was essential due to the nature of their business. A generic solution would not have adequately covered all sides of the business from the call-centres to the studio floor.

The bespoke course also ensured that the final assessment was relevant using questions tailored to the learners' daily surroundings and office policies rather than using generic examples that would not be specific to the employee or company.

Turning point

Sky has used the e-learning course to bring together all previous elements of health and safety training into one concise course and to highlight their positive commitment to health and safety. How does Sky know that the course has been a success? It was cited by an Health and Safety Executive inspection as a 'turning point' in the way the company was dealing with health and safety.

Dominic explains: "Using e-learning was a cost effective way of capturing people quickly and giving employees the ability to decide when and where to do the learning. We wanted to enhance our employees' understanding of health and safety in general, as well as create something that was in line with our company culture and brand."

Award winning

The innovative health and safety training programme was recently awarded silver at the International Visual Communication Association (IVCA) awards. The IVCA judges commented that it is a "highly interactive course using a strong mix of different media, delivered within a clean design and user-friendly interface."

"The award was proof of all the hard work that went into creating the course and making sure it met our objectives to significantly enhance employee knowledge about health and safety, as well as providing coherent and engaging training in line with our brand values as an entertainment company," comments Dominic "The feedback so far has been excellent and the award has helped us to further promote the course internally."

To date the course has been completed by 95% of all Sky employees.

Ensuring that a course that is often viewed as mandatory engages the learner and ensures that a company is not just compliant and fulfilling any regulatory requirement but that the employee feels like they have actively learnt something that will assist them, therefore creating an improved corporate culture. Dominic concludes: "The course looks fresh and engaging. We treated the content in an innovative and entertaining way. With high levels of interactivity it moves away from being passive training. Those are just some of the elements of its appeal."

Call us on 01273 827676 or email us at enquiries@brightwave.co.uk to find out how we can help you improve employee health and safety training in your organisation.