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Copyright © 2019 by American Society of Safety Professionals
All rights reserved. Published 2019.

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should be sought.

Print ISBN: 978-0-939874-25-5

E-book ISBN: 978-0-939874-26-2

Managing Editor: Rick Blanchette, ASSP

Text design and composition: Cathy Lombardi
Cover design: Amy Ackerman, ASSP

Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: McMichael, Regina, (Safety Speaker), author.

Title: The safety training ninja / Regina McMichael.
Description: Park Ridge, IL : American Society of Safety Professionals, 2019.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018043933| ISBN 9780939874255 (paperback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780939874262 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Safety education, Industrial. | Industrial safety.
Classification: LCC T55.2 .M395 2018 | DDC 658.3/1244--dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2018043933
Chapter 2
ADDIE: Using a Systems
Approach to Training
How to Deliver Better Training
In the previous chapter, we talked about the challenges we face. Safety is a full-
time job for most of us. Add to that the responsibility to train effectively and
efficiently, and that is probably more work than we have time for. So let’s find a
better and easier way to train.
We use a systems approach with several safety initiatives, so it makes
sense that we can adopt a systems approach for training. If you are an
inquisitive type who has started to research good training design and devel­
opment, you may have seen the terms instructional systems design (ISD) or
systems approach to training (SAT). No matter which acronym you choose,
SAT or ISD, you are basically talking about the same concept. By the way, I
will be using ISD since that is what I first learned.
Although it existed to some degree before the 1970s, the ISD concept
was really born at Florida State University and grown by the US military
shortly thereafter (Branson et al. 1975). Of the different ISD models, we
will focus on the ADDIE model, which stands for Analyze, Design, Develop,
Implement, and Evaluate (see figure 2.1). When I was a younger Safety
Training Ninja, I learned the ADDIE model, and although there are other,
newer rapid-development programs, I think we should start with the basics
to grow our skills.
Many of you may already be using some of the elements of ADDIE
but didn’t know its official name or that it is an accepted ISD model. ADDIE

1
2 The Safety Training Ninja

FIGURE 2.1
The ADDIE cycle
 ADDIE: Using a Systems Approach to Training 3

is orderly—think military—and that is a good thing. In the safety world,

we need to think things through, and training needs the same thoughtful
approach. The key to ADDIE is using it to your advantage, not thinking of it
as a stiff compliance approach that can’t bend to your needs. ADDIE allows
for continuous improvement throughout the process. That is valuable since
we use continuous improvement in many other approaches to EHS, such as:

• Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) in ISO 45001 and quality processes
• OSHA’s Process Safety Management regulation
• MIL-STD-882D, Department of Defense Standard Practice for System
Safety

Support for a Systems Approach

Who else uses systems for EHS training development? Plenty of people
already, and you can join this esteemed group.

• ANSI/ASSP Z490.1-2016, Criteria for Accepted Practices in Safety,

Health and Environmental Training. This is one of the few consensus
standards specific to the EHS training world. Using this standard to
complement the ADDIE approach will help you create and deliver
better training. Following the project management elements of this
standard will help you defend your training program contents.
• “Best Practices for Development, Delivery, and Evaluation of
Susan Harwood Training Grants,” US Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, (https://www.osha.gov/dte/sharwood/
best-practices.html). The Harwood grant program has been around
for more than twenty years and has long advocated many of the
elements of a systems approach to EHS training.
• U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) pamphlet
350-70-7, Army Educational Processes (don’t be fooled, this pamphlet
is 107 pages long!). If you work with or for the Army, you are probably
familiar with this document. It is comprehensive, to say the least, and
not an easy read, but it shows again that EHS training programs are
being developed using a system. There are many more to list, but this
should give you a good start to justify following these new concepts.
4 The Safety Training Ninja

Why ADDIE?
Maybe you are not convinced that this systems approach to EHS training
is for you. Consider what ultimate goals your training programs need to
achieve. Do you want great training that learners want to attend and that
they actually use at work to be safe? Then this might be a good start at
achieving those goals. Here are some other benefits of ADDIE.
1. Break out of the mold. Use the ADDIE model to break the old mold
of developing EHS training. You know the one: open PowerPoint,
cut and paste all the stuff you can find in your files or on the internet,
and then supplement with lots of regulatory content that makes even
the most dedicated learners’ eyes glaze over. By developing materials
systematically, you focus on only what they need to know, whether
by law or job necessity, and this allows your learners to hear only
what they need to know to fix any knowledge or performance gap.
2. Only teach what they need. Once you know what the learners need
to know via your analysis, you can start removing all the stuff you
thought you had to include in EHS training but don’t need to meet
your learners’ or stakeholder’s needs. If the material you are teach­
ing does not actually say they must be able to recite the regulation
reference (29 CFR 1910—you know where I am going with this), or
cite the scope of the regulation that does not apply to them, or list
other elements of a rule or governmental requirement, then why
would we include it in the content we teach our learners? Is it be­
cause we have always done it that way? Is it because that is the way
we were trained? Or is it because we don’t know another way? Well,
keep reading and you will soon find a better way!
3. Stick to critical information. If you are conducting training because
you have identified a specific performance or knowledge failure,
then limit your training to improving that specific element. For
example, an analysis of recent accidents has found several ladder
accidents. Your further analysis has found that it is just one ladder
in one part of your facility. Now you know to train only the learners
who use just that ladder, and you can focus on the specific behavior
you need to change. No need to reteach the unneeded elements of
any government regulation. Many regulations require a proficiency
to work safely, not the recitation of elements that do not apply to
 ADDIE: Using a Systems Approach to Training 5

ditching the regs

Not sure if you are ready to leave behind all those
references to any US OSHA regulations? Refer to OSHA
document #2254, Training Requirements in OSHA
Standards, to decide just how specific you need to be
in your training program.

the work. And don’t forget how much your learners will appreciate
training that is specific to their needs and no more.
4. Protect your professionalism. If you know this ninja, you know that
I don’t like to use regulations or litigation as the primary reason
to be safe or teach learners about safety. Imagine if the quality or
even the existence of your training program were to be challenged.
If you are following a systems approach, with the project manage­
ment paperwork behind it, you will be able to defend your training
programs and show the “how and why” of what you trained your
learners.

So, let’s break the ADDIE phases down, just enough to get you thinking.

Analyze
Sometimes this is the hardest part of the effort for trainers: getting started.
If you are sure of your analysis, you are more likely to proceed smoothly
through your training development. We will talk about analysis in greater
detail in the next chapter.
The analysis phase is the foundation of a training program. This is where
some preplanning will serve you well. The basis for who must be trained, what
must be trained, when training will occur, and where the training will take
place is completed in this phase. The product of this phase is the foundation
for the remaining elements of the ADDIE model. This is a critical stage since,
as an EHS professional, you are probably pushed to get the training developed
quickly and cheaply. The problem is, if you skip this step, you may actually
end up wasting time and money. It may take some convincing for both you
and your stakeholders to invest in this phase, but I promise it is worth it!
6 The Safety Training Ninja

Design
This is the roadmap for your training program. The outputs of the analysis
phase drive the writing of learning objectives, which drives design, which all
results in a road map of the training program for future development. This
is my favorite phase because it allows the EHS professional to finally break
free of lectures and less-than-stellar training. The other great thing is, if you
did your analysis well, the design process starts to form organically in your
mind.

Develop
This phase begins the creation of your program. We start to expand on the
objectives and start filling in the road map. The “filling” is both the technical
content and the methods of delivery. The result is the completed instructional
materials. Don’t get ahead of yourself, though; the planning and the road
map must be developed first. Developing different forms of course materials
requires a certain amount of skill and art. Be ready to acknowledge that you
may not have those skill sets, but you can start learning now.

Implement
This is it, time to teach, train, or facilitate. All your hard work and prepa­
ration of materials are finally ready to deliver. The implementation has far
more opportunities than many EHS professionals take advantage of, and
if you map them out properly in the design and development stages, the
delivery will go a lot smoother. The chapter on implementation will have
both technical and artistic information to help you deliver and facilitate the
materials you worked so hard to create.

Evaluate
The last phase is to evaluate whether you have met your learning objectives
and if the materials you delivered will fix the knowledge or performance gap
you found in the analysis phase. Testing, job evaluation, employee observa­
tion, and loss trend analysis (after time has lapsed) are all great tools, and
 ADDIE: Using a Systems Approach to Training 7

we will expand on these concepts well beyond the pre- and posttests that are
common in the EHS training world.

References
Branson, R. K., G. T. Rayner, J. L. Cox, J. P. Furman, F. J. King, and W. H.
Hannum. 1975. Interservice Procedures for Instructional Systems
Development (5 vols.) TRADOC 350-30. Ft. Monroe, VA: U.S. Army
Training and Doctrine Command, August 1975.