Contractor Induction Program Helps Sway Favourable Outcome From Vic Supreme Court

By Author: markpakshie
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When proportioning liability for injuries to a freight handler who was injured on the job, the Victorian Supreme Court took into consideration the effectiveness of Australian Air Express's induction and training system.

On 26 May 2004, a contractor performing freight handling duties at a worksite controlled by Australian Air Express, was working inside a freight container when he attempted to lift a box. The box was not labelled with a heavy item ‘caution' sticker, so the worker did not expect it to exceed 25 kg. When he attempted to lift the box, he experienced immediate severe pain in his back due to the unaccounted for weight.

The worker subsequently claimed damages against Australian Air Express and his employer Rodevan Pty Ltd, the company which had hired out his services to Australian Air Express.

At the end of the case Justice Katharine Williams conceded that the company's induction and training process and materials 'appeared to address the issue of the identification and manual handling of heavy goods'.

While the contractor induction and training system that Australian Air Express ...
... had in place was not able to change the on-the-job behaviour of the worker, it was enough to sway the court's decision in reducing the amount of responsibility it assigned to them, reducing the percentage of the damages they had to pay.
Taking it one more step: Changing behaviour

The real benefit to Australian Air Express would have come to them had their contractor inductions program been able to change the behaviour of the worker, so that he never attempted to lift the box in the first place.

How can a contractor induction and training system change behaviour?

When a company can reasonable assume that an inductee has not comprehended the information contained within a training course, they are able to take action and provide further training or stop the inductee from working at all. But there's the trick! Knowing whether or not an inductee has understood the material contained within their contractor induction course is not always achievable.

Automated interactive learning

What's needed is a system that effectively tests an inductee's comprehension of the material as they take the course. This requires direct interaction, and in a face-to-face training scenario, this can be time consuming and expensive.

Some induction software provides the ability to include questions throughout an induction course that requires contractors to actively think about and respond to the course content in order for them to pass the induction.

Furthermore, the ability to track success and failure rates of specific areas within a training course enable you to modify or strengthen the content in order to strengthen your inductees' understanding of that material.

The result is both a more effective course and better-trained contractors and employees.

Markpakshie is a freelance writer who has produced this article for Employee induction, Employee inductions,Contractor induction, Contractor inductions,Safety induction, Induction training. Go to our website for more examples of Markpakshie's work.