Operating Experience - hdbk11140017

DOE-HDBK-1114-98

3.3 Operating Experience

Presentation of the lessons learned from facility and industry operating experience should be included

frequently in instruction. Effective use of operating experience involves citing incidents or situations that

make subject matter realistic, gain trainee interest, and stress the importance and credibility of the topic.

Principles that should guide the instructor in using lessons learned from operating experience include

the following:

The trainees must first know the sequence of events to understand the lessons learned.

The lessons learned from operating experience examples, and their relevance to the trainee's

facility, should be objectives of the training session.

The details of the occurrence should be accurate to help prevent the trainees from drawing the

wrong conclusions.

The selection of occurrences to use for a particular lesson should be based on the lessons

learned that need to be understood and applied by the trainees.

The root cause(s) of the occurrence should be included to provide the trainees with a clear

understanding of the occurrence and methods to recognize and prevent it from happening in the

future.

Providing realistic examples of events in lesson materials, including the action taken or programs

implemented to prevent similar events, promotes the overall effectiveness of training. This will

emphasize to the trainee that the event has occurred and has some potential to recur if proper

precautions are not taken. As more recent facility or industry events are identified for training, older,

similar events already presented may be deleted to minimize repetitive training. However, the impact an

event may have on safety and health may warrant the presentation of both old and new events. The

DOE Handbook Implementing U.S. Department of Energy Lessons Learned Programs provides

additional guidance in this area.

3.4 Indicators of Training Effectiveness

Facility performance indicators can be used as a measure of progress by facilities in meeting their

goals. Many factors contribute to the achievement of these goals, including management and

supervisory involvement, ongoing facility self-assessment, sharing operating experience, and the

emulation of best industry practices. Providing in-depth training to facility personnel is also an important

factor. The training contribution toward the achievement of facility goals should be monitored frequently

by the training manager. This can be accomplished by using training system indicators to monitor for

training system effectiveness. Examples of effective training indicators include the following:

Meeting facility performance goals

Decreasing personnel errors and equipment rework

Obtaining timely and constructive line organization feedback for improving training

Improving instructor effectiveness and training content as indicated by training program critiques

Meeting performance-based personnel training needs

Considering personnel examination pass/fail rates or success of task performance evaluations.