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Logging on to Safety:
County Mutual unveils innovative online training
September 2004
As published in Wisconsin Counties Magazine
-Michelle L. Thompson, Thompson Communications, Inc.
With a constant eye on loss control and risk management, the Wisconsin County Mutual (County Mutual) will be unveiling a state-of-the art online safety training program later this month for member counties and their employees.
The County Mutual Online Safety Training Program will incorporate text slides, along with streaming video and audio, to guide users through the training. The initial online safety training that will be available is “Excavation Awareness.” Additional topics are slated to be unveiled later this year and early next year.
“With several hundred site visits and numerous safety seminars by our loss control staff every year, the County Mutual’s new Online Safety Training Program will be yet another way we can deliver our message of ‘safety first’ to member counties,” said John A. Dirkse, Executive Vice President of Aegis Corporation, which is the general administrator for the County Mutual. “This online method will allow our county employees to train in an environment that is convenient for them, while providing them with critical safety information that can keep them safer on the job.”
Members may access the online safety training through the County Mutual’s Web site at www.wisconsincountymutual.org. Users simply need to enter in their preassigned user name and password. Each county will have an administrator of the program and this person could include the county’s insurance contact or other administrative staff at the county’s choosing. The training administrator is the person that will assign log-ins for use on the online training.
Logging on to Safety
During a user’s first time to the online training section, the new user will create a new password for themselves that they can use for future visits. The username and password will ensure privacy to that user and will then allow that employee to check on their course history, available courses and what online training seminars have been successfully completed.
Once the user chooses the online safety course they would like to take, they will be guided through the easy-to-navigate course. The courses have text screens, as well as streaming video and audio. The user decides when they are ready to move forward to the next screen and at any time during the training, they have the ability to go back to review previous training screens.
At the end of each training session, there is a simple multiple choice quiz that is based upon the session just viewed. Once the quiz begins, the user can no longer go back to review training screens. At the end of the quiz, a tutorial will appear that lists what answers the user missed and provides a brief lesson consisting of a paragraph of information for each incorrect answer. In the event a user fails the quiz following the training, they may retake the quiz beginning 24 hours after the initial quiz was taken.
At any time, the training administrator will have access to all employees’ training history and will be able to work with them to identify and resolve any trouble spots.
“The County Mutual and its’ 55 county members have a long history of working together to ensure our employees are well educated and safe during their workday,” says Jon H. Hochkammer, Director of Insurance Operations for the County Mutual. “From highway safety rodeos to seminars on workplace violence, we believe when we are proactive rather than reactive when it comes to workplace accidents, everyone will benefit.”
The County Mutual Online Safety Training Program was created in conjunction with Discover Wisconsin Productions, Inc. and DMiNTERACTIVE.
“Working with the Wisconsin Counties Association, Aegis Corporation, Discover Wisconsin Productions, Inc. and members of the County Mutual Board, I believe we have created an outstanding product that will help county employees from around the state complete additional training in a non-traditional, yet highly effective setting,” says Lisa Beth Banker, Account Executive with DMiNTERACTIVE. “Thanks to this technology, employees now have other options when it comes to safety training and we are proud to be involved in this project.”
For more information on the County Mutual Online Safety Training Program, please contact John Dirkse of Aegis Corporation at 800.236.6885 or Jon Hochkammer of the Wisconsin Counties Association at 877.404.2700. Additional information on Discover Wisconsin Productions, Inc. can be found at www.dwpinc.com and DMiNTERACTIVE at www.dminteractive.com
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