making rcra training exciting

Making RCRA

Training Exciting:

Strategies to Engage and Interest Attendees at a

Mandatory and Potentially Dull Topic Session

Meet Your Presenter

Doug Graham, CHMM

Sr. EH&S Consultant &

External Training Manager

dgraham@triumvirate.com

Over 20 years training emergency responders

Objective

Learn four strategies to engage

and interest EH&S training

attendees.

Exciting?OK, “EXCITING” is a strong word and it may be unrealistic to think RCRA, or any other mandatory EH&S training, can be truly exciting in the traditional

sense of the word.

Nobody will be walking away thinking

your training was better than the beach

party they attended over the weekend,

and if they do, you likely didn’t do

your job… or you somehow

introduced alcohol.

Start By Avoiding

What’s Not Exciting?The following training strategies are definitely not

exciting:

• Wasting people’s (and employer’s) valuable time

by playing games or other activities unrelated to

the topic.

• Using humor in a presentation inappropriately.

• Treating adults like children (e.g., “if we give them

candy, everything will be OK”)

• Being an unprepared instructor.

• Boring the audience!!!!!

Actual Slide Content: The generator is also required to attempt to make arrangements with local authorities (police dept., fire dept., local hospital(s), and contracted spill response provider) to prepare for likely emergency response scenarios involving a release of hazardous waste or hazardous materials.

Speaker’s comment:“The generator is also required to attempt to make arrangements with local authorities (police dept., fire dept., local hospital(s), and contracted spill response provider) to prepare for likely emergency response scenarios involving a release of hazardous waste or hazardous materials.”

Example:

Four Strategies

1. Include Perspective

2. Force Your Audience to Think and Answer Questions

3. Use Props / Hands-On

4. Have a Great Attitude

1. Include

Perspective

Perspective

1. Why was the law passed that lead to the regulations?

2. What was the historical debate surrounding the passage of the

law?

3. What other laws and regulations are related to the topic at

hand?

4. What are the non-regulatory issues (e.g., long term liability,

sustainability) related to the topic?

5. What are the current enforcement trends and interpretations

surrounding the topic?

6. How does this topic directly affect my job and this facility?

7. What ultimately happens to all this hazardous waste?

Audiences love to learn things related to the topic, for example-

Giving perspective to a topic breaths

life into it. It can also answer

questions that many attendees may be

thinking, but not voicing, such as…

• Why am I involved in this training?

• Why does this topic matter?

• What are the real life consequences

of non-compliance?

Perspective

Example

Slide content: Warfarin, as an example, in unused form is considered a hazardous waste listed on both the U- and P-lists.

Speaker comment: “Why!!!!? Was there a public health crisis in the 70s where heart patients were indiscriminately disposing of Coumadin tablets??!! No… it’s rat poison! If you were EPA putting this list together, wouldn’t you include rat poison!! Just like nicotine, it’s not scrutiny of the pharmaceutical / healthcare industry’s wastes that lead to this listing- it was the chemical’s former use. (nicotine was also a potent pesticide and in its pure form is 6 times more toxic than cyanide).”

Example:

Did that peak their interest? You could go further.

Mouldy silage from sweet clover caused an outbreak of a fatal bleeding disease in cattle in the northern U.S. and Canada in the 1920’s. The anticoagulant compound found in the cloverwas later identified in the 1940’s as 3,3’-methylenebis (4-hydroxyl coumarin) by a Wisconsin-based scientist.

In 1952, the compound was approved as a rodenticide.

In 1954 it was approved for clinical use as a blood thinner under the drug name Coumadin.

Example:

Example

I bet everyone is listening right now.

And now the final factoid:

“The name WARFARIN is derived from a combination of

WARF (Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation) and ARIN

from coumarin- the compound’s chemical family.”

You are now officially a hero for not boring them to

death (like the last RCRA trainer they attended!).

Example:

PerspectiveUnfortunately for the trainer, all this takes time, research,

experience and hard work.

But, it’s worth it. Adding interesting content between the

slides and bullet points is, at a minimum, the most important

part of keeping an audience interested.

Inexperienced and/or unprepared presenters will tend not

to do this and the audience truly suffers. This is the

number one negative survey comment when an attendee

dos not like a presentation…“They read off the slides”.

2. Force Your

Audience to

Think

• Lecture without audience participation

is nearly impossible to maintain for any

meaningful length of time

• More experienced members of the

audience can be engaged by

answering questions that demonstrate

their knowledge base to their peers

• Interesting trivia relative to the topic

can be introduced

• Questions can be used continuously as

a speaking style to prompt talking

points and make transitions

Questions are a great way to

keep the audience engaged.

3. Use Props &

Get Hands-On

Props/ Hands-OnWho doesn’t love show

and tell!

An old can of pesticide, a

strange old battery, an

old fire extinguisher filled

with tetrachloroethylene,

nicotine patches. . . .

These are solid gold!!!

Slide content: Mercury-containing lamps can be managed as

universal waste. Metal halide lamps are one

example.

Speaker action: Pass around

the lamp and ask them if they

can see the little droplets of

Mercury in the arc tube.

Example:

Vintage Insecticide Ads:

Always a Crowd Pleaser

Leytosan- it may be

mercury-based, but it

spells…

“more money”

DIDIT- Ooh, “the ladies

know what’s good!”

And “it really does kill”

Yeh, cause it’s

DDT!!

And After All…

But wait,

dangerous

chemicals

are not just

for Mom

and Dad!

4. Attitude Can and

Will Make All the

Difference

AttitudeThe trainer sets the tone for the session. If they’re excited about the topic, the audience will be too.

Even the crustiest students can have a good experience if the speaker brings enthusiasm to the topic.

What made that favorite

teacher from high school

so special? . . .chances

are it’s that they cared.

They cared about their

students and about their

subject.

Because they cared, they

brought passion to the

classroom.

Conclusion

Final ThoughtsIn summary, employers are well advised to carefully consider

who will provide their employee training. A trainer with a

passion for the topic who has the experience and skills

necessary to keep interest and engagement can be a good

investment.

Too often, required training is looked at by

employees as drudgery, or even a “waste

of their valuable time”. This can lead to

sketchy attendance and poor retention of

critical compliance instructions.

QUESTIONS?