Eastern Kentucky University’s OSHA Training Institute Education Center, one of just 27 such facilities nationwide, is now issuing more durable and secure outreach trainer and student cards.
The federal safety agency announced recently that it would introduce the completion cards – which resemble credit cards in feel – for its outreach training programs, including 10-hour and 30-hour voluntary safety classes for workers in construction, maritime and general industry. The classes are taught by independent consultants authorized by OSHA and trained through OSHA Training Institute Education Centers at EKU and elsewhere.
At the conclusion of each course, students receive the cards, which had been printed on paper. Now the cards are made of a more durable card stock, with a QR code that will reveal the names of the student and trainer, date of issue and the Center that produced the card. The new cards are issued for in-person training sessions only; for now, students who complete online training will continue to receive paper cards. Also, workers who already have 10-hour and 30-hour cards do not need to change to the new card.
Reflecting its service orientation, the EKU center will print its own cards to expedite the process, noted Tammy Cole, system director for EKU’s Center for Career and Workforce Development. “We felt strongly we wanted to be in control of that process and maintain our high level of customer service.”
During the 2015 Fiscal Year, the EKU center trained 2,174 students in OSHA courses, including the trainer courses, realizing an increase of 20 percent over the past year and ranking eighth nationally. Those trainers, in turn, fanned out across the U.S. and even some American military bases abroad to teach classes at various sites, reaching approximately 11,000 “students.” EKU Facilities Services employees are among a relatively small number who take the 10-hour and 30-hour OSHA classes on the Richmond campus.
Every instructor who trains out of the EKU center is a University employee; some are also current faculty at the University.
Eastern will host roundtable discussion with the trainers in April to discuss any questions or concerns they have about the new system.