Problem: A potential client was in the late stages of a product development cycle where they intend to change the power source for their product from an alkaline battery to a lithium metal battery. At the eleventh hour, they came to the realization that shipping these products and their replacement batteries would be much different than shipping the nearly unregulated alkaline batteries. In a scramble to understand the regulations, they had a few employees complete an off-the-shelf, eLearning course certifying them on shipping lithium batteries. The staff went through the training and, well, came away with more questions than answers. The publicly available course covered various battery chemistries, energy contents, configurations, country-specific rules, and modal differences. Public, off-the-shelf courses may provide value to some shippers, but because no two businesses are alike in operation, oftentimes these courses are misleading to participants and take up valuable time on non-relevant information. This is not the fault of the eLearning provider; it is simply reality that you cannot create universal content that will apply to every business. The only options are to teach everything – including loads of non-relevant information which will confuse participants – or to keep content minimal, which risks not touching on requirements that may apply to a potential training user. Perplexed and frustrated, the client came to HSC to help them sort out the requirements and create a more effective training program.
Solution: Based on a quick visit and information gathering session, HSC learned this client’s supply chain and product inventory. Using that knowledge, HSC created a custom training course for their employees. The streamlined course covered information that was applicable to their operation and included real-life scenarios of how to ship their exact products throughout their supply chain, from manufacturing facilities, to warehouse, and outbound to customer. This streamlined course effectively taught their employees while still meeting US DOT regulations on hazardous materials training. At the conclusion of the course and exam, employees were issued training certificates to serve as proof of training to DOT inspectors and carrier personnel alike.