Best Practices
Farmland Hydro, L.P.
Bartow, Florida
Background
Farmland Hydro, L.P. (FHLP), a major producer of phosphatic fertilizer products, is located in Bartow, Florida, one of the world's major centers of phosphate production. FHLP is a limited partnership formed by Farmland Industries, the largest U.S. farmers' cooperative, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and Norsk Hydro ASA, the world's largest producer of nitrogen based fertilizer products, based in Oslo, Norway.
The facility is located on a 2,500 acre site and employs about 300 people to produce granular, phosphatic fertilizer. Phosphate rock, sulfur and anhydrous ammonia are the three raw materials required to produce the final product. The process begins with sulfur, which is burned and processed to form sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid is reacted with phosphate rock to produce phosphoric acid. Finally, the phosphoric acid is reacted with anhydrous ammonia to form ammonium phosphate, which is granulated to form the final product. Granular fertilizers from this facility are shipped to domestic and international markets. Like many chemical production facilities, the plant operates 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Except for unplanned power outages, the entire facility is never completely shut down. Specific production units are scheduled down for repair throughout the year.
The Challenge
FHLP was intent on improving its safety training program while remaining competitive in a commodity industry. Vacations, overtime work, rotating shift schedules and normal absenteeism made training schedules very difficult to manage. Training is a vital part of the company's accident prevention program. Lectures were augmented by video tapes, PowerPoint presentations and handouts. Jerry Hawthorne, the plant's Safety Director, was concerned that the training goals were not being achieved at a satisfactory rate. Additionally, all of the training was performed on overtime, which served to increase operating costs. A method was needed to improve retention, decrease training contact hours and reduce overtime costs.
The Solution
During this time, Safety Technician Alex VanDuyn visited the Mastery Technologies, Inc. booth at the National Safety Council Congress and Exposition in Orlando, Florida. That visit led to the company implementing an interactive training system. Hawthorne reported that, "Since our Mastery Interactive CD-ROM training system has been implemented, employees have become confident enough of their safety knowledge that they will actually challenge me on safety issues. Since they are more informed, they are more enthusiastic and concerned about the safety program than in the past".
One advantage Mastery training has over lecture based training is that all of the material can be reviewed until it is fully understood. The program requires trainees to re-answer all questions answered incorrectly. Video clips and all other instructional materials pertaining to the missed question are replayed until the trainee can answer the question correctly. When all of the questions have been answered correctly, the trainee is reported to have "mastered" the training material. The system will even print a "Certificate of Mastery" that can be placed in the trainee's training file.
Improved Retention
Maintenance Manager Bobby Fox and Production Manager Doug Belle, agreed that the most significant benefit of Mastery training, and the reason behind the improved retention rates, is the fact that the training is performed on an individual basis free from the distractions associated with large groups of co-workers trained in a classroom setting. Fox and Belle also said that the Supervisors appreciate the flexibility built into the training schedule. Prior to implementing the system, one of the concerns was whether all of the employees would accept computer based training. Would the programs be too difficult to operate for novice computer users? And, since this type of training had not been used before in the facility, there was a fair amount of skepticism about the project's success.
The roll-out occurred during one of the annual safety refresher classes. The computer was attached to an overhead projector in the training room and the employees learned how to log-in and operate the system. VCR style controls make the system easy to operate. After this demonstration, the system was set-up in a small room that formerly housed a copier and the training began. FHLP utilized two training computers. 
Both computers were in the same room, so headphones were used instead of speakers. The next challenge was to get everyone scheduled for the interactive training. Rather than attempt to schedule each employee, a schedule was developed for each operating department. Each department has access to the CD-ROM training computers for 4-hour blocks of time around the clock. Two of the four hour blocks are reserved for the maintenance department during the day since most of the mechanics work day shift. The production departments have access to the computers during the afternoon and evening hours. Utilizing two computers provides more than twice as many training hours than is actually required to accomplish the training. Each employee is required to complete one training module per month which takes 30 minutes to an hour to complete. Scheduling training sessions in four hour blocks allows employees to make-up classes if they get behind.
Easy to Operate
All of the courses are installed on the computer's hard drive. That means employees never have to handle the CDs. They just enter their four digit payroll number and then select the course they want to take from the list on the screen. The FHLP Interactive Training System contains a twelve course library, which includes courses on hazard communication, machine safeguarding, electrical safety, fall protection, lockout/tagout, confined space entry, overhead equipment, hearing conservation, back safety, respiratory protection, RCRA training and Process Safety Management. Each supervisor receives a Status Report monthly indicating which of his employees have completed the required training. The two training computers are set-up in a peer-to-peer network that allows both computers to write their training records onto one hard drive eliminating the need for training records on each computer.
OSHA Compatible
One year after the Mastery training was implemented, the facility underwent an OSHA inspection during which training records were evaluated. A Mastery Status 
Report was submitted for their review. OSHA was pleased with the detail it found in the Status Report, and the company was not cited. Status Reports include trainee names, course titles and course completion dates. FHLP also purchased Mastery's Student Analysis and Reporting System (STARS), which provides reports with greater detail than is found in Status Reports. Status Reports are produced by Mastery's Training Manager program, which is included with each course Mastery offers. An annual safety refresher class allows trainees the opportunity to ask questions and have them answered, satisfying OSHA's training requirement.
Customized Training Courses
In the near future, FHLP plans to modify its courses to make them site-specific by using the Mastery Modify™ program. Modify is an optional program offered by Mastery that allows the user to customize their courses by adding or removing information from the courses. The Modify program allows the user to insert PowerPoint slides, still digital photos or even video clips into the training courses. Additional written text, test questions and audio text can also be incorporated using Modify. The company also plans to build an interactive training program for new employees using Modify and a Mastery Shell. Shells are empty Mastery training programs that allow the user to build the entire training program. The Shell includes Mastery's backgrounds, VCR style buttons, Training Manager, etc. In short, once the course is complete, it looks and operates exactly like a Mastery produced training program. This allows Mastery users to produce interactive training modules for specific parts of their business when commercially prepared products are not available.
The Results
Implementing Mastery Interactive CD-ROM Training has solved many of the training problems faced by FHLP and other safety professionals throughout the country. The need to reschedule training classes due to absenteeism or to accommodate work schedules has virtually been eliminated. Trainees have responded very well to the new system and actually retain more information for a longer period of time than they did when lecture based training was the primary mode of instruction. Except for one department, training is performed now on straight time.
As a direct result of the decrease in safety training expenses due to the overtime reduction, resources have been made available for additional operational or job skills training throughout the facility, which has helped to improve efficiency and reduce accidents. Merle Farris, FHLP's Vice President of Operations said, "This has definitely been a win-win situation for us".
