DuPont STOPs the Tradeshow, Escalates Interactive Resources
With all of the STOPTM signs plastered around Booth 764 on the NSC Expo floor, it was hard not to obey, so we did, visiting with the product managers from DuPont Safety Resources for a bit. Here's the scoop.
The company is in the midst of upgrading its portfolio of safety offerings, they said, with a new version of STOP For Each Other, which combines the best teachings from the former STOP for Employees and STOP for Each Other programs to reflect more of the safety challenges of today's workplace. "The STOP programs have all always had a DVD/video component, but the new program includes an e-learning element and e-workbooks," said Andy Perrella, global product manager. "The interactive nature of the new module is really the thing that's different."
Perrella said the company will be offering a series of new modules over the course of next year, with the first available early in 2008.
Anton Bohn, a senior consultant and master trainer for the company, said DuPont holds two-day seminars on customers' sites to educate users on the latest developments and, in general, to "cover all techniques we think are important for a successful safety program. We do that by showing what works for us. We're all up against the same kinds of problems; it doesn't matter what industry you're in. There's a common element, and in safety that element is people. So we share what's worked for us, and we try to figure out what's going to work for you, using the basic techniques of STOP that we review in this course."
DuPont developed the STOP (Safety Training Observation Program) series to meet a need among company partners and customers who were seeking to replicate DuPont's successful approach to safety, Bohn said. Founded in 1802, the company today has a workplace safety record that, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor stats, is 11 times better than the nation's industrial average, he added. "We've been doing this 205 years, so we've got the experience," he said.
Doris Byrd, also a senior consultant for the company, said the new STOP For Each Other program encourages open discussions of safety on the job. "When was the last time you reinforced someone for working safely?" she asked. "This is one of the main principles of the STOP For Each Other program.... You learn ways to have conversations about safety so that it becomes second nature to discuss it."