4.1 Determining Training Needs

On this page:
4.1.1 Training Needs Assessment by Activity
4.1.2 Training Needs Assessment by Job Title or Function
4.1.3 Training Needs Assessment by EHS Office Organizational Role
4.1.4 Training Needs Assessment for academic courses
4.1.5 Special group-based training

The Training Needs Assessment is a web-based tool used by MIT to identify individuals engaged in regulated activities; assess the types and levels of EHS risks they may encounter and regulations that apply to their activities; and create and track a customized training program for each individual. The assessment creates and tracks individual training programs based on different criteria such as departmental or EHS activity or job title.

4.1.1 Training Needs Assessment by Activity

1. A trainee is initially informed about EHS training requirements, and the need to complete them before beginning work with hazardous materials by his or her Principal Investigator (PI)/Supervisor, DLC EHS Coordinator, or EHS Representative.
2. A trainee is then instructed to register through the EHS Training web site and complete the Training Needs Assessment to determine his or her EHS Training Requirements. The trainee is prompted through a series of questions that identify the specific activities that he or she will be engaged in. By identifying specific regulated activities, the Training Needs Assessment is able to identify required training courses for individual trainees. The results of the assessment are saved in the EHS Central Training Records Database.
3. A trainee must complete the EHS Training Requirements before beginning work.
4. A trainee must update his or her Training Needs Assessment if the trainee's regulated activities change or he or she moves to a new laboratory, facility, or DLC.

The EHS Coordinator may assist a PI in completing the Training Needs Assessment. That assistance should be provided as follows:

1. Review the Training Needs Assessment Checklist with the PI and decide which EHS activities apply to the PI. Review the training requirements and how the PI can complete them. (A print version of the checklist is available on the EHS Training site in the “Need Assessment Help.”)
2. Go to the EHS-MS training home page, select for "Training Reports" and then select training report 2 for individuals.
3. Type in the kerberos username of the PI and their “Report 2” will be displayed.
4. Affiliate the PI with your DLC and list them as their own PI/supervisor.
5. Select the EHS Activities that you and the PI agreed apply.
6. The PI will receive a training reminder email in 30 days for any training not completed.

4.1.2 Training Needs Assessment by Job Title or Function

The training system also supports the creation of a customized EHS training program based on an individual's job title or function. This approach is most appropriate for non-research employees at MIT, where training requirements are the same for all those with the same job title or function. This same group may also have limited computer access, so this approach ensures that all people, regardless of their access to computers, are captured in the Training Needs Assessment. The Department of Facilities, the Division of Student Life,the Division of Camparative Medicine, the EHS Office, and Lincoln Laboratory currently make full use of this feature to delineate comprehensive EHS training requirements for their staff by job title.

1. The DLC EHS Coordinator with EHS Office support creates an EHS curriculum and training program for each job title or function where EHS training is needed. These training programs are then uploaded into the EHS Training System and saved in the EHS Central Training Records Database.
2. The training and/or retraining is then scheduled and completed before regulated activities begin.

4.1.3 Training Needs Assessment by EHS Office Organizational Role

An employee with a designated role within the EHS Office must receive training appropriate to that role. For example, EHS Office Lead Contacts must complete the training program designed to give the Lead Contacts the tools necessary to carryout that function. A list of training requirements for EHS Office roles can be found in the EHS Cross Training Table.

 

4.1.4 Training Needs Assessment for academic courses

The training system has the ability to link training requirements for students registered in an undergraduate academic lab course. The new capability provides instructors with the ability to monitor and run reports on the group of students enrolled in their courses. EHS Office personnel work with instructors to determine which EHS training modules are required for their courses. The training rules are then added to the training needs assessment so that when students who are registered for that course go to their EHS Training summary page, the requirements are listed automatically without the need for doing the self assessment. The EHS training modules completed from enrollment in an academic course are added to those required by completing a self assessment in the training needs assessment so they do not need to be repeated, which is a common experience for UROP students.

4.1.5 Special group-based training

The special group-based training requirements can be used when none of the other methods for determining EHS training requirements such as self-assessment, department-specific training requirements, job title-based requirements, or academic course-based requirements are appropriate. EHS Office is working with several groups where this approach is believed to be more effective to pilot this capability.