Training Companies and quality
Training companies are not all the same. The quality of training, product or service the customer receives is not the same from one company to another. Of course, this is not unique to the health and safety industry. We all experience this each day with all types of professionals. The question we need to ask within our industry is how we ensure that all companies are being held to the same standard and are quality assured. What type of quality assurance is the answer?
Quality Assurance
Sure, the brand of trainings that each health and safety firm is offering has a quality assurance program. That said, these quality assurance programs differ from one brand to the next. The expectations of the training firms also differ from one brand to the next. And, this leads to inconsistency in the quality of training delivered to the customer.
Another area of concern is the raw number of instructors and training companies across the United States. It does not matter how good a quality assurance program might be, it is near impossible to ensure each instructor and training firm is adhering to the standards as they should.
And, quality assurance staff are not present during most classes. As a result, they rely on complaints from participants. Many times, these participants do not understand what makes the training poor. And, competing firms often submit complaints. So, quality assurance staff spend time chasing down issues that are not really issues.
Training companies delivering poor quality classes increase the worry and the challenges during instructor level courses. As a result of poor training, the next generation of students will be poorly trained.
Self Policing
How does the health and safety industry begin to talk about policing itself? What does this policing look like? I am not suggesting that self policing replaces the quality assurance provided by each brand of training.
