the UK, that featured one-week classroom
courses with an assessment at the end of
each course. The courses could be taken in
isolation or together to work toward intermediate and professional accreditation. To
test whether this concept would work in
other countries, founding members identified a partner in Australia, the University
of Wollongong, which conducted a course
previously offered in the UK.
Often in life, the greatest lessons are
learned from things that do not go according to plan. That was the case with
this first course. But despite the problems,
the course represents a pivotal moment in
the evolution of the program. The lessons
learned shaped a different style of training and qualification. The basic concept
worked, but it needed to evolve.
The result was the development of new
training manuals and materials, aligned
with syllabi that met the needs of end
users, plus a student assessment that
would work in a multicultural environment. To facilitate translation and increase applicability, the new, standardized
courses avoided discussion of national
regulations, which can be added locally
by the training provider.
The concept for this project was for
collaboration to make the most of collective expertise and funding. Multinational
corporations, industrial hygiene societies
and individuals around the world have
freely given their time and support.
Major corporations provided funding to
develop a series of standardized training
courses over the next three years, complete with syllabi, model program, student manuals, lessons plans, slide packs,
practical sessions, case studies and student assessment. A team of authors wrote
materials; the lead editor was Professor
Brian Davies of the University of Wollongong, the recipient of AIHA’s 2002 Yant
Award for outstanding contributions to
industrial hygiene from an individual
outside the U.S. The development of standard materials to be delivered by qualified
industrial hygienists raised confidence in
the quality of the training.
material has to be technically correct,
manageable in the time available and delivered at the right level for the audience.
With funding secured, courses were
commissioned from specialists in universities or other experienced training organizations. Following delivery of the first
drafts, all materials were peer reviewed by
independent specialists and not accepted
until agreement was reached. This in itself
was an interesting process, occasionally
highlighting differences of opinion between world experts in some of the underlying scientific concepts.
Once course materials were agreed
upon, the courses were piloted—often
more than once—in countries such as
Azerbaijan, China and Indonesia, as well
as the UK and the U.S. AIHA sponsored a
course in Shanghai in 2010. (For information on AIHA’s Shanghai course
scheduled for November 2011, see the
sidebar.) This invariably produced other
challenges that needed action. Often the
content of the course needed to be
amended for delivery to a multicultural
audience. Some courses required more
significant structural changes; these
courses were trialled again, often several
times, until the formula worked.
Translation
Once we had achieved high-quality, peer
reviewed and tested courses, the materials
were ready for translation—a time-con-
suming and challenging task, as some
commonly used terms and technical jar-
gon may have no equivalent in some
languages.
AIHA® to Hold Noise Course in Shanghai
The Long Road to Development
The development was not without setbacks, but over time, a formula evolved
that has now been widely tried and tested.
Producing course materials requires
care to achieve the learning goals. The
AIHA, in partnership with GE, will present Noise Measurement and Its Effects at the
GE China Technology Center in Shanghai, China, November 7–11, 2011. Course Director Lan (Ellen) Lui, senior industrial hygienist for Environ (China), and Ye (Mark)
Ding, senior project EHS consultant for Environ (China), will instruct the course.
This intermediate-level course is a core part of the International Hygiene Certificate and will be taught in Mandarin. It describes how to conduct noise assessments in the workplace and in the general environment, and to determine the
significance of measurement data in relation to standards for compliance.
The course is limited to 30 participants and will include lectures, hands-on
demonstrations, and e-handouts (in English). Certification maintenance points are
available from the International Association for Continuing Education and Training
(IACET), the American Board of
Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) and the
Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP).
Individuals interested in acting
as corporate sponsors for the
event should contact AIHA
Education Manager Stacey Talbot
( stalbot@aiha.org). For more
information or to register, visit
www.aiha.org/International. Participants in AIHA’s Measurement of Hazardous Substances
course, held in June/July 2010, in Shanghai.
