Traditional Training or Learning Management System? Food Safety regulations (HACCP & Preventive Controls) require that all employees handling food are trained in Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs). The content of the training is not precisely outlined in regulations and the only requirement is that employees are trained on food safety and food hygiene. Each business, depending on internal conditions, will decide on the content and level of details for such training. For example, facilities handling food allergens will include detailed allergen control awareness as part of the training. This may include allergen separation, changeover practices and labeling. Such content or level of details may not be needed for facilities that do not handle food allergens.
Since your employees are the first line of defense in assuring food safety and brand protection, basic workforce training is important to the overall success of your business.
Copies of procedures or power point presentations may not be attractive enough for your employees to draw their full attention. Overall, the old fashion methods of teaching may not be effective ways of learning.
With the current situation and the pandemic more businesses are exploring the option of online learning. Sometimes the main reason is social distancing and following the CDC guidelines, but most businesses are looking to increase the effectiveness of employee training. E-learning has been proven to be more effective than the traditional ways of teaching.
There are many factors to evaluate before selecting the right learning management system (LMS) for your company. The most common factors include 1) The content – does it meet the requirements? 2) simplicity – can employees use the system without additional technical assistance? and 3) price, can we afford the LMS and will it save us money in long run?
A very few LMSs come with pre-loaded content. The ones that do, offer different levels of information and interactivity and sometimes the content may be a video without any interactivity.
BD Food Safety Consultants LLC developed DOCEO Learning Management System with pre-loaded content.
Looking at the 3 factors most often evaluated by the businesses, our system seems to meet the needs.
- Content – DOCEO LMS contains food safety modules available in English and Spanish. The content meets the requirements for employee food safety training as outlined in HACCP and Preventive Controls Regulations as well as GFSI audit schemes. There are 5 modules: GMPs, Allergen Management, Food Defense, HACCP / Food Safety Plan Overview and GFSI Awareness. Clients may choose to conduct individual training with high level of interactivity or group training sessions with less interactivity. The content was developed using adult teaching techniques. Each module lasts 5 – 8 minutes and contains essential information. The system allows for customized or company specific training materials to be uploaded and used for training.
- Simplicity – DOCEO LMS is easy to use. Participants can take courses with just a few clicks. There is no additional hardware required for group sessions. Employees can connect to the group session simply using an electronic device such as their phones or tablets. Verification quizzes are short with maximum of 4 questions. Additional questions can be added to quizzes per customer’s request. As an alternative to written quizzes, the system allows for direct observation as an option for training verification. This function may be helpful when conducting “hands on” or job specific training.
- Price – DOCEO LMS is priced for all types of budget with and no down payment or hardware fees are required. In addition, the Clients may adjust the number of logins from month to month which means you will only pay for what you use. Price per login starts at $5.00. DOCEO LMS will save you money long term. Considering time spent on employee training, generating records and time wasted because of employee mistakes, this system pays for itself. Protecting your business’s reputation by preventing food safety issues and product recall is priceless.
Effective employee training is the key to the success of your food safety system and overall success of your business. Without proper training your programs and procedures cannot be fully implemented. Errors that employees make may be very costly by not only generating product waste but at time these may have severe consequences including product recall. Effective training system will improve controls within your operation and protect your business’s brand and liability.
To learn more about DOCEO LMS please lookup our website or contact us at LMS – Learning Management System – Food Safety Training (bdfoodsafety.com) or email [email protected]