As soon as you see a mistake and don't fix it, it becomes your mistake.

Funfair Staff Training

Historically both the event industry and the funfair industry has operated a scheme of training new staff members “On the job”. Done correctly and with adequate supervision this can and does work well.

Unfortunately as the world progresses, becomes more sophisticated (and is populated with no win no fee lawyers), this accepted method of training is rapidly exceeding its sell by date. The modern safety industry relies on paperwork. Certificates of competence, safety passports, training log books, work qualification matrices, and dozens of other acronyms and schemes. It seems that everything we do today must have a certificate authorising us to be able to carry out that particular activity. How does this translate to real life. Is classroom based learning capable of teaching someone how to operate a modern thrill ride safely? At the same time, on the job training can equip personnel with the practical skills they need, but what happens when something does go wrong, without a structured record of what someone is trained, or experienced in operating, can the industry operate to modern Health and Safety requirements, and what view does a court of law take when a staff member is in the dock, and there is only his bosses word that he has been adequately trained?

We attempted to analyse the two disparate training methodologies using a simple analysis of their comparative strengths and weaknesses.

On The Job Training

Strengths

Staff get to handle and operate actual equipment, not abstract representations on a screen

Trainer gets to see exactly how staff handle equipment in a real life scenario

Operating conditions will vary far more than a set series of tasks will providing a richer learning experience

Very quick and easy to integrate staff into operations, basically they are working from day 1, this makes occasional staff a viable proposition.

Negates the requirement for specialist training staff, or expensive out sourced courses

Weaknesses

Staff are pitched straight into work without any formal method of health and safety instruction

With casual staff there is no record of what they have achieved in the past, they must either be treat as complete novices, or verbal explanations of their ability must be accepted

With no structure to on the job training it makes it difficult to prove due diligence in the event of an accident or incident.

It devalues the industry as a whole as it is viewed as completely unskilled labour

Totally unsuitable people are often pressed into service as it is accepted you can just tell them what they are doing wrong, which is reactive rather than proactive approach increasing the risk of an accident

There is no real impetus to incorporate additional training such as first aid or fore safety into the curriculum, event though they may be legal requirements

Structured Course Based Training

Strengths

A consistent training regime can be applied to all staff leading to everyone operating to the same values

Structured learning processes can be assembled helping to train staff in extra safety related fields such as Health and Hygiene, first aid, fire safety etc.

Occasional staff will build training logs up making it easier to ascertain who is safe to operate what attraction

Due diligence would be much easier to prove with comprehensive training records

Improving the image of our operations would lead to more faith from clients in our health and Safety priorities.

Weaknesses

Like many things in life, the costs would increase due to the need for trainers with recognised qualifications

It makes it more difficult to take on extra staff in emergencies or at short notice due to the need to induct them and provide the basic health and safety training required

In many cases the money spent on training staff would be wasted due to the high turnover prevalent in casual fairground employees

There are no recognised training schemes specific to the funfair industry, meaning that the time and money spent on this training would not be recognised outside of our own operation.

The increased costs would be a burden as many clients would probably not be prepared to pay extra for a corporate funfair with properly trained staff, especially with the economy in the current state its in.

The fact that someone can safely operate a ride on paper, doesn’t necessarily translate to real world competency, sometimes the value of the paper is elevated beyond any reasonable measure and “trained” staff may actually be less safe than their “non qualified” counterparts.

What Can Be Done

We have broken the problem of staff training down into 2 separate requirements. Firstly there is generic training which can be applied across many industries. This covers things like first aid training, fire safety, health and hygiene and others. Many of these are actually legal requirements, although this seems to mean little within the industry. The second requirement is job specific training. The former need is quite well taken care of by many of the existing training organisations that exist. Something like the Health and Hygiene Level 2 requirement for food handlers is a recognised qualification, and one that can be taken online or at a training companies premises. The same goes for first aid and things like fire marshal (these cannot be taken online but there are plenty of accessible courses run by reputable training organisations.)

Generic Training

To comply with our own health and safety policy (as well as many of the mandatory requirements), we have begun an initiative to have our main staff, and the freelance individuals we use regularly, trained in health and hygiene, fire marshal, first aid and general health and safety. To date most staff have their Level 2 Health and Hygiene certification, with 1 member of staff booked into the 4 day Level 3 course, with the intention for that individual to be in overall charge of our food safety. We have a first aid course booked for the third week in March and will be booking a fire marshal course in the near future.

Job Specific Training

There are currently no fairground specific training schemes in existence. The events industry is way ahead here with the safety passport scheme becoming readily accepted, and companies such as Stagecraft running passport schemes tailored to the outdoor events industry.

There is talk within the industry that moves are afoot to create an NVQ qualification specific to the funfair industry. We would give this initiative a cautious welcome. Cautious because we have a feeling that it would not be made compulsory, meaning that 99% of the operators would totally ignore it as being a waste of money. Unfortunately unless it is designed and intended to be a mandatory qualification for all funfair operatives it will simply be ignored.

Also something like an NVQ won’t really address the lack of health and safety training, and will be overkill for many of the standard funfair staff. A modified version of the Stagecraft safety passport would encompass a wider cross section of the fairground industry and provide more job orientated and realistic safety training. Again however, unless it is made a mandatory qualification, it will simply be swept under the carpet by all but a tiny minority of operators. We would have our staff undertake the course, but this stems from the fact that a large percentage of our work is now within the outdoor events industry.

In the interim we have tried to supplement the normal on the job training with some computer based specific training presentations. All of our staff are required to work through the standard induction program. This is then followed by fire safety, and attraction specific training. So for instance someone operating our flying chairs ride will have worked through a minimum of 3 classroom based exercises, before being assigned to operate the particular ride, and then only under supervision until it has been demonstrated that they can operate safely.

“Being safe is like breathing--You never want to stop.”

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