Again in this post, we go out of the industrial plant-into the air. Last weeks fabulous landing of the US Airways plane on the Hudson river emphasized one thing in particular, which is-the importance of the safety training. In our industrial plants, many times a new visitor or a recruit is perfunctorily shown a short “safety training” video. More often than not, this is a grainy ancient video that somebody made to comply with some XYZ regulation. The quality certainly does not show the seriousness with safety matters. (I am sure there are many of you out there who may have had a better experience, if so, please share it in the comments section). The plane landing incident only shows how important the safety training demo is. Most people on most flights sleep off/ignore/look the other way, thinking of course…”Oh that’s just a formality. It can’t happen to me!”. As this incident has shown, it CAN happen (that is why the demo includes what you should do if the plane lands on water). I hope all of you will now watch the safety demo at the beginning of the flight more seriously from now on. Also, please take down those grainy old VHS videos that are shown to new recruits and visitors to your industrial plants and replace them with something more visible, eye-catching and worth remembering. Why should it have to be a traditional video at all? It can be snazzy Flash movie, or something that can be downloaded to an MP4 player or shown on a projector on a big screen with sound and effects. The key is not only showing the video/demo/program… it is also making the visitor to your plant feel that your management takes safety seriously enough to invest in such things. People will remember it much better and maybe it does save somebody’s life in case of some undesirable occurence.
Perhaps you can take a leaf out of Abhisam Software’s e-learning courses? These cover subjects like Hazardous Area Instruments and Gas Detectors, making extensive use of Flash/Shockwave to engage the learner.
As for the commander of the airliner, it was a fantastic performance. BTW , I hear that he is also an aviation safety expert, so this knowledge must have helped tremendously.